Measuring Sleep Quality Among Medical Students Using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale

Introduction While existing literature establishes the positive impact of sleep on test performance among medical students and its correlation with better outcomes among physicians, there is a notable gap in the quantitative understanding of how the transition from preclinical to clinical training affects sleep quality. Methods Our survey was sent to all medical students attending the California University of Science and Medicine between April 2023 and January 2024. The relative risks for having an Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) greater than 10 were calculated and compared for various subgroups in our sample. Univariate logistic regression analysis was also carried out to assess the effect of covariates on our primary outcome. Results In total, our sample consisted of 124 medical students. Only 11.3% (n=14) were somewhat dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their medical school experience. The relative risk of having an ESS > 10 when on clinical rotations was 2.06 (95% CI: 1.22-3.49). Conclusion This study demonstrates that the risk of medical students experiencing excessive sleepiness, defined by an ESS > 10, doubles when students are on clinical rotations. Despite being limited by information bias and a smaller sample size, this study provides interesting pilot data on the quantitative examination of sleepiness among medical students and may be used to guide areas for future work.