PurposePoor quality of sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness affect cognitive ability and have a negative impact on the academic performance of medical students. This study aims to determine the prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep quality and psychological distress as well as assess their association with low academic performance in this population.Participants and methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 457 medical students from the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Rabat, Morocco, who completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale to determine the quality of sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness, respectively. Sociodemographic variables and psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale) were also measured. Multivariate linear regression was performed in order to evaluate the link between low academic performance and sleep quality after adjusting for other covariates.ResultsAmong the included students, the median age was 20 (19; 21) years; 70.7% of the participants were females. Almost one-third of the students (36.6%) had excessive daytime sleepiness and this was more frequently observed in female students (43% vs 20.1%, <0.001). Furthermore, 58.2% of the students were poor sleepers (PSQI ≥5), while 86.4% of them had psychological distress. The bivariate analysis showed that psychological distress was associated with decreased risk of low performance (ß=0.04; 95% CI=0.005–0.07; P=0.024). Being a poor sleeper was statistically associated with poor academic performance (ß= −0.07; 95% CI=−0.14 to −0.002; P=0.04) in the multivariate analysis. In our study, daytime sleepiness was not statistically associated with academic performance.ConclusionA poor sleep quality determined by PSQI ≥5 was related to poor academic achievement at the end of the study year in medical students.

Introduction. The use of blue light-emitting devices (smartphones, tablets, and laptops) at bedtime has negative effects on sleep due to light stimulation and/or problematic excessive use. We aimed to evaluate, among young medical students, if the perception of sleep disturbances due to bedtime use of these devices is consistent with healthier habits and a better sleep quality. Materials and methods. 294 medical students in medicine and pharmacy from the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Rabat, Morocco, took part in this anonymous and voluntary cross-sectional study and answered an electronic questionnaire. Student and Mann–Whitney U tests were used to compare variables between 2 groups based on their perception of sleep disturbances. The level of significance was p≤0.05. Results. 286 students (97.3%) used a blue light-emitting smart device at bedtime before sleep, and sleep quality was poor (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI > 5) in 101 students (35.3%). The perception of sleep disturbances due to this night usage was reported by 188 of them (65.7%). In this group, 154 (81.9%) used their device with all the lights turned off in the room (p=0.02), 34 (18.1%) put devices under pillows (p=0.04), 114 (60.6%) interrupted sleep to check messages (p<0.001), and the mean duration use of these technologies at bedtime was 2 h ± 23 min per night (p=0.02). Also, the mean sleep duration was 6.3 hours ± 1.25 (p=0.04), 119 (63.3%) presented fatigue on waking more than one time per week (p=0.04), and 76 (40.4%) presented poor sleep quality (75.2% of the students with PSQI > 5) (p=0.005). Conclusions. Despite the perception of sleep disturbances due to bedtime use of blue light-emitting devices, unhealthy sleep habits tend to be frequent in young medical students and worrying because it is associated to significant poor sleep quality.

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BackgroundSingle-gene disorders related to ischemic stroke seem to be an important cause of stroke in young patients without known risk factors. To identify new genes responsible of such diseases, we studied a consanguineous Moroccan family with three affected individuals displaying hereditary leucoencephalopathy with ischemic stroke, dysmorphic syndrome and retinitis pigmentosa that appears to segregate in autosomal recessive pattern.MethodsAll family members underwent neurological and radiological examinations. A genome wide search was conducted in this family using the ABI PRISM linkage mapping set version 2.5 from Applied Biosystems. Six candidate genes within the region linked to the disease were screened for mutations by direct sequencing.ResultsEvidence of linkage was obtained on chromosome 17q24.2-25.3. Analysis of recombination events and LOD score calculation suggests linkage of the responsible gene in a genetic interval of 11 Mb located between D17S789 and D17S1806 with a maximal multipoint LOD score of 2.90. Sequencing of seven candidate genes in this locus, ATP5H, FDXR, SLC25A19, MCT8, CYGB, KCNJ16 and GRIN2C, identified three missense mutations in the FDXR gene which were also found in a homozygous state in three healthy controls, suggesting that these variants are not disease-causing mutations in the family.ConclusionA novel locus for leucoencephalopathy with ischemic stroke, dysmorphic syndrome and retinitis pigmentosa has been mapped to chromosome 17q24.2-25.3 in a consanguineous Moroccan family.

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