Insomnia, a sequel of stress among medical students in Iraq

<ns3:p>Background insomnia is common at any age; however, it is more prevalent among medical students due to the competitive environment they live. Stress is thought to be a primary contributor in the development of insomnia due to its two-way relationship with the disorder. The objective of this study is to assess sleep quality among medical students and explore the relation between insomnia and the level of stress they experience. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students from Anbar and Fallujah universities in Anbar province/Iraq. All students who agreed to participate were included in the study. The presence of insomnia was evaluated according to the Athens insomnia scale (AIS-8). The level of stress was measured according to the perceived stress scale (PSS-10). Results The total number of participants was 452, 72.8% of whom reported insomnia. Low-stress level was experienced by 8.4%, moderate stress by 60.0%, and high perceived stress by 31.6% of the respondents. Level of stress was significantly associated with gender (p< 0.001), with prevalence of insomnia among females (42.5%) been higher than that among males (30.3%). Logistic regression model revealed that students with high perceived stress had OR of 3.188 for insomnia compared to those with low level of stress (C.I. 2.1-4.8, P<0.001). Conclusion Prevalence of insomnia among medical students is high, statistically attributed to stress. The findings of the study encourage adopting certain programs to enhance awareness of medical students about this problem.</ns3:p>