Sleep disturbances associated with minor psychiatric disorders in medical students

We performed a cross-sectional study with 342 medical students (age range, 18–35 years) to identify, among a group of sleep disturbances, those which are related to minor psychiatric disorders in this population. The instruments employed for data collection were the self-reporting questionnaire (SRQ-20), the morningness/eveningness questionnaire, the Epworth sleepiness scale, and a general questionnaire regarding demographic characteristics, use of drugs, history of psychopathology, usual fall-asleep time, usual wake-up time, amount of sleep, arousal during the night, and insomnia. We used a logistic regression model to determine independent factors associated with minor psychiatry disorders. Daytime sleepiness [odds ratio (OR), 2.12; 95% CI, 1.21–3.71], arousal [OR, 4.54; 95% CI, 1.97–10.47], insomnia [OR 2.45; 95% CI, 1.32–4.56], and sleeping less than 7 hours per night [OR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.11–3.67] were associated with minor psychiatric disorders. This group of variables determined a cumulative risk ratio of 5.47 [95% CI, 2.87–10.41] for the main outcome. Received: 11 September 2001 / Accepted in revised form: 26 February 2002