Sleep Disturbances Rate among Medical and Allied Health Professions Students in Iran: Implications from a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Literature

Abstract

Medicine and healthcare professions are prestigious and valued careers and, at the same time, demanding, challenging, and arduous jobs. Medical and allied health professions students, experiencing a stressful academic and clinical workload, may suffer from sleep disturbances. In Iran, several studies have been conducted to explore the prevalence rate among medical and healthcare professions students. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to quantitatively and rigorously summarize the existing scholarly literature, providing the decision- and policy-makers and educators with an updated, evidence-based synthesis. Only studies utilizing a reliable psychometric instrument, such as the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), were included, in order to have comparable measurements and estimates. Seventeen investigations were retained in the present systematic review and meta-analysis, totaling a sample of 3586 students. Studies were conducted between 2008 and 2018 and reported an overall rate of sleep disturbances of 58% (95% confidence interval or CI 45–70). No evidence of publication bias could be found, but formal analyses on determinants of sleep disturbances could not be run due to the dearth of information that could be extracted from studies. Poor sleep is highly prevalent among Iranian medical and healthcare professions students. Based on the limitations of the present study, high-quality investigations are urgently needed to better capture the determinants of poor sleep quality among medical and healthcare professions students, given the importance and the implications of such a topic.

Lifestyle behavior of budding health care professionals: A cross-sectional descriptive study

“…In the present study, 30.9% participants reported sleep deprivation and the reason for inadequate sleep were the use of mobile phone, media, and friends among 71.4% participants and for 42% participants reported that it was due to study and stress. These results are in line with other studies[ 16 22 23 ], which reported the use of mobile and stress were the major factors for disturbed sleep pattern among budding health care professionals. Study shows that disturb sleep pattern may result in depression, anxiety, improper interpersonal relationship, poor academic performance, and more vulnerability to substance abuse.…”

Psychological Well-Being in Nursing Students: A Multicentric, Cross-Sectional Study

“…The symptoms associated with stress are usually accompanied by adjustment, anxiety, and behavioral, sleeping, and emotional disorders [ 10 ]. In addition, a lack of sleep affects memory and decreases alertness, and if it becomes chronic it can lead to disorders such as anxiety and depression, and even vascular comorbidity [ 11 ].…”

Quality of Sleep and Its Correlates among Yemeni Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…However, findings vary among countries. In Pakistan, 77% of medical students had poor quality of sleep and a mean PSQI score (SD) of 8.1 (3.1) [ 25 ], compared to 58% of Iranian medical students [ 26 ]. In Egypt, 53% had poor quality of sleep and a mean PSQI score (SD) of 6 (2.7) [ 27 ].…”