Sleep quality of medical students and relationships with academic performances

Sleep health is a major public health concern because of its correlation with physical and mental health, and it may be particularly altered in medical students. This study aims: i) to examine the sleep characteristics of French medical students and their knowledge about basic sleep hygiene rules and; ii) to examine the correlations between sleep quality and academic performances, as well as between sleep quality and sleep knowledge. Students from 4th, 5th and 6th years of medicine, of the Faculty of Paris Diderot, voluntarily responded to an online questionnaire including PSQI and multiple-choice quizzes (MCQ) about basic sleep hygiene rules. From the 177 participants, 49.7% had a poor sleep (PSQI>5). Regarding sleep latency, 44.6% needed>30min to fall asleep at least once a week, 26.5% slept 6 hours or less by night, 42.4% of them qualified their sleep quality as bad or very bad. A serious lack of knowledge about basic sleep hygiene rules was observed, with an average score at the MCQ of 6.61/10, and only 31% of medical students were aware of basic good sleep habits. Significant correlations were observed between sleep efficiency and all academic mean scores (both regarding the morning, afternoon, and pooled mean scores), and between sleep disturbances and the morning mean score. French medical students have a poor sleep quality, correlating with academic performances, and present a poor knowledge of basic sleep rules. These findings are a call to improve medical training schedules and to develop prevention and training programs. La qualité du sommeil est un enjeu de santé publique du fait de son impact sur la santé physique et mentale. Celle-ci peut être particulièrement altérée chez les étudiants en médecine. Cette étude vise à : i) examiner les caractéristiques du sommeil des étudiants en médecine français, ainsi que leurs connaissances des règles d’hygiène de sommeil ; et à ii) examiner les corrélations entre la qualité du sommeil et les performances académiques, d’une part, et, d’autre part, entre la qualité du sommeil et les connaissances des règles d’hygiène de sommeil. Un questionnaire en ligne, portant sur l’évaluation de la qualité du sommeil (avec échelles standardisées dont PSQI) et les connaissances sur les règles d’hygiène de sommeil (via QCM), a été diffusé via les réseaux sociaux aux étudiants en médecine de 4e, 5e et 6e année de la Faculté de Paris Diderot. Les réponses étaient basées sur la base du volontariat. En acceptant de répondre