Evaluation of Sleep Patterns and Prevalence of Stress Among Dental Undergraduate Students.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The association between quality of sleep and psychological distress among dental undergraduate students is a critical area of research due to the high levels of stress and demanding schedules these students face. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of sleep disturbance and psychological distress among undergraduate dental students.

METHODOLOGY

In a cross-sectional study conducted among 104 first year dental undergraduate students for a period of 1 month, quality of sleep was analyzed. Prevalidated questionnaires of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Kessler's (K10) psychological distress scale were used to collect the data.

RESULTS

As per PSQI analysis, 43 students (43.1%) report good sleep quality (global score of 0-5), 52 students (51%) reports poor sleep quality (overall score of 6-10), and 7 students (6.9%) reports very poor sleep quality (overall score of 11-21). Responses from K10 revealed that 33 students (32.4%) are likely to be well (total score of 10-19), 23 students (22.5%) have mild psychological distress (total score of 20-24), 13 students (12.7%) have moderate psychological distress (total score of 25-29), and 33 students (32.4%) have severe psychological distress (total score of 30-50). F-Statistic, between and within groups was 0.0064 suggested significant differences in sleep quality across different psychological distress levels.

CONCLUSIONS

57.9% of the students reported poor sleep quality, with many experiencing sleep disturbances such as delayed sleep onset, reduced sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness. PSQI revealed that over half of the participants had poor or very poor sleep quality, while the K10 scale indicated that a significant portion of students experienced moderate to severe psychological distress. The results show that students facing severe psychological distress tend to have worse sleep quality, as evidenced by the statistically significant differences in sleep quality across distress levels.