Assessment of sleep quality and daytime sleepiness in dental undergraduate students in Eastern India

Introduction: Sleep is essential for mental health of all ages. Deprivation of sleep leads to multiple cognitive disturbances, behavioural changes, fatigue and even accidents. Excessive daytime sleepiness is defined as greater probability of falling asleep in situations where the individual should be awake. Dental and medical students are the major groups of society suffering from abnormal sleep leading to lower academic performance. The aim of this study was to evaluate sleep quality and excessive daytime sleepiness among First year dental students at a private institution in Eastern India. Materials and methods: It was a Descriptive, Epidemiological, Institution based Cross-sectional study. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were administered to 84 First year dental students to assess sleep quality and daytime sleepiness. Results: Poor sleep was found to be prevalent in 50% of the participants. Day-scholar students had significantly higher daytime sleepiness than those residing in Hostel (p= 0.0097). Married Students had significantly poorer quality of sleep and increased daytime sleepiness than unmarried students. (p<0.0001). By Pearson’s correlation, there was strong positive correlation between Sleep Quality and Excessive daytime sleepiness, meaning poor sleep was positively correlated with excessive daytime sleepiness. (p<0.00001) Conclusion: A high prevalence of poor sleep quality and excessive daytime sleepiness was found among undergraduate students in Dentistry. Demographic and social factors like age, gender, residence can influence quality of sleep and daytime sleepiness. There is positive correlation between poor sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness. Students should be targeted with Counselling programs with the goal of their sleep improvement.