title: Sleep disorder among medical students: relationship to their academic performance.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medical students are exposed to a significant level of pressure due to academic demands. Their sleep pattern is characterized by insufficient sleep duration, delayed sleep onset, and occurrence of napping episodes during the day.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the prevalence of sleep disorder among medical students and investigate any relationship between sleep disorder and academic performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire-based study. The participants were medical students of the first, second, and third academic years. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) was also included to identify sleep disorder and grade point average was recorded for academic performance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 491 responses with a response rate of 55%. The ESS score demonstrated that 36.6% of participants were considered to have abnormal sleep habits, with a statistically significant increase in female students (p = 0.000). Sleeping between 6-10 h per day was associated with normal ESS scores (p = 0.019) as well as the academic grades ≥ 3.75. Abnormal ESS scores were associated with lower academic achievement (p = 0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high prevalence of sleep disorder was found in this group of students, specifically female students. Analysis of the relationship between sleep disorder and academic performance indicates a significant relationship between abnormal ESS scores, total sleeping hours, and academic performance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Education, KSU Medical Education Chair for Research and Development,College of Medicine, King Saud University, PO Box No. 230155, Riyadh 11321, Saudi Arabia. hamzaabg@gmail.com
authors.forename: Hamza M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Abdulghani
authors.forename: Norah A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Alrowais
authors.forename: Norah S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Bin-Saad
authors.forename: Nourah M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Al-Subaie
authors.forename: Alhan M A
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Haji
authors.forename: Ali I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Alhaqwi
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires