Prevalence of Smartphone Addiction and Its Association With Sleep Quality Among Medical Undergraduates: A...

Smartphones have become indispensable tools, powered in part by artificial intelligence. Medical students are often overburdened and sleep-deprived due to their curricular demands, which is further aggravated by irrational and problematic smartphone usage, adversely affecting their work proficiency and health. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the association of smartphone addiction with the quality of sleep among medical students, along with other background variables like gender, age, year of study, etc.  Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 314 medical students from Netaji Subhas Medical College and Hospital, Patna, using an online self-administered questionnaire consisting of three parts: sociodemographic characteristics, Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS-SV), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to correlate SAS scores and PQSI scores.

The mean SAS-SV score was 34.01 + 9.78. The prevalence of smartphone addiction was found in 46.2% of females and 57.5% of males. The mean PSQI global score was 7.28 + 3.86. A majority, 209 (66.6%), of students had poor sleep quality as assessed by the PQSI scale. There was a positive correlation between overall PQSI scores and SAS scores (r=0.172, p<0.01). Significant association was also found between the place of residence (p < 0.05) and SAS scores (p < 0.001) with poor sleep quality, respectively.

Excessive smartphone use was found to be highly prevalent among medical students and significantly associated with poor sleep quality. The findings emphasize the need for awareness and behavioral interventions to promote responsible smartphone usage and improve sleep hygiene among medical undergraduates.