title: [Quality of sleep and selective attention in university students: descriptive cross-sectional study].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sleep quality not only refers to sleeping well at night, but also includes appropriate daytime functioning. Poor quality of sleep can affect a variety of attention processes.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the relationship between the perceived quality of sleep and selective focus in a group of college students.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in a group of 52 Argentinian college students of the Universidad Adventista del Plata. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Continuous Performance Test and the Trail Making Test were applied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The main results indicate that students sleep an average of 6.48 hours. Generally half of the population tested had a good quality of sleep. However, the dispersion seen in some components demonstrates the heterogeneity of the sample in these variables. It was observed that the evaluated attention processes yielded different levels of alteration in the total sample: major variability in the process of process and in the divided-attention processes were detected. A lower percentage of alteration was observed in the process of attention support.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Poor quality of sleep has more impact in the sub processes with greater participation of corticocortical circuits (selective and divided attention) and greater involvement of the prefrontal cortex. Fewer difficulties were found in the attention-support processes that rely on subcortical regions and have less frontal involvement.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Adventista del Plata, Argentina. Address: Facultad de Humanidades, Educación y Ciencias Sociales, 25 de mayo 99 C.P.3103  Villa Libertadores San Martín-Entre Ríos, Argentina. Email: silviaafontana@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Silvia Alicia
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Fontana
authors.affiliation: Universidad Adventista del Plata, Argentina.
authors.forename: Waldina
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Raimondi
authors.affiliation: Universidad Adventista del Plata, Argentina.
authors.forename: María Laura
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Rizzo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012890:Sleep; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: alternating attention; divided attention; quality of sleep; selective attention; sustained attention; university students