Daytime Sleepiness among Medical Colleges' Students in Jordan: Impact on Academic Performance

Sleep disorders are extremely prevalent in the general population. College students are more susceptible to sleep problems. This is due to the increased competition in getting a job position and the current alterations in the labor market. Poor sleep is prevalent and has deleterious effects on college students, but its frequency among college students has not been documented in Jordan. So, the aims of this study are to assess the prevalence of daytime sleepiness among medical college students in Jordan and to look for any links between daytime sleepiness and academic performance.

A cross-sectional study performed on medical and paramedical specialties students and Epworth sleepiness Sscale (ESS) was used. To assess the students' academic performance, the cumulative grade point average was utilized.

977 students from five medical colleges participated in the study. ESS scores were abnormal in 34.4% of students and were considered to have daytime sleepiness. Significant lower ESS scores were associated with students who reported good sleep quality than students who reported poor sleep quality. Significant lower ESS scores were reported by students who slept more than 7 hours compared with students who slept less than 6 hours. The ESS scores were not significantly associated with students' CPGA.

Daytime sleepiness is highly prevalent among medical students in Jordan. The data of this study might be very helpful to assess the academic policy makers to develop intervention strategies that resolve the sleep disturbances in college students and reduce its impact on the academic achievements.