title: Evaluation of depressive symptoms and sleep alterations in college students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increasing evidence suggests that sleep alterations could favor subsequent depression development. In order to identify the simultaneous occurrence of these parameters in young people, in this work we evaluated the prevalence of depressive symptoms, sleep habits, and possible sleep disturbances in college students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and a Sleep Habits Questionnaire were applied to students registered at the Autonomous University of Yucatan, Merida (mean age 20.2 +/- 2.6 years). The final sample was composed of 340 (53%) women and 298 (47%) men. Reliability of the BDI and ESS was assessed by Cronbach's alpha method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Taking 10 as ESS cut-off point, it was found that 31.6% of the students had a high level of sleepiness. Students with depressive symptoms had a greater number of days with somnolence during class (p <0.05) and perceived that this affected their academic performance at a higher level (p <0.001) than the students without symptoms. In comparison to subjects without depressive symptoms, students with those symptoms rated their sleep quality as poor (p <0.001), perceived a greater latency to initiate sleep after going to bed (p <0.03), and experienced a greater number of awakenings (p <0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found diverse sleep alterations in a large proportion of the studied subjects, which were more severe in those who showed depressive symptoms. Educating students for appropriate sleep hygiene and encouraging them to seek professional advice to treat sleep disturbances may be useful to prevent depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Centro de Investigaciones Regionales Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán, México.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moo-Estrella
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pérez-Benítez
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Solís-Rodríguez
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arankowsky-Sandoval
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012890:Sleep; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014851:Wakefulness