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Sleep quality and related factors including restless leg syndrome in medical students and residents in a Turkish university

  • Neurology • Original Article
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Abstract

Purpose

The aim was to determine sleep quality and related factors including restless leg syndrome in the 6th year medical students and medical residents in Pamukkale University, Faculty of Medicine, Denizli, Turkey.

Methods

The data collection phase of this cross-sectional study was completed between November 1st and December 31st, 2019, with a questionnaire including 59 items. Three hundred forty-one medical students and residents participated in the study. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to determine the participants’ sleep quality. The International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group Diagnostic Criteria and the Restless Leg Syndrome Rating Scale were used for the diagnosis and for determining the seriousness of restless leg syndrome, respectively.

Results

The mean age (SD ±) was 26.6 ± 3.2. Men (50%) and medical residents (59%) constituted the majority. Most of the participants (70%) had poor sleep quality, and 9% had restless leg syndrome. Despite losing their significance in multivariable analysis, a relationship existed between restless leg syndrome and sleep quality in bivariate comparisons (p = 0.04). According to the multiple variable analysis, age (p = 0.008), female gender (p = 0.04), insufficient income (p = 0.009), being on-medication (p = 0.007), being a current smoker (p = 0.01), not sleeping at the usual time (p = 0.04), and listening to music before sleeping (p = 0.03) were identified as independent risk factors for poor sleep quality.

Conclusions

The prevalence of poor sleep quality and restless leg syndrome are high in the 6th year medical students and residents. Necessary measures should be taken to reduce the effect of negative conditions on these vulnerable groups.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the 6th year medical faculty students for their support during the data collection process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Medical Faculty, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey

    Nesrin Ergin

  2. Department of Public Health, Medical Faculty, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey

    Bilge Betül Kılıç, Ahmet Ergin & Sema Varlı

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Contributions

NE and AE conceived and designed the study; AE, BBK, and SV acquired the data; all authors analyzed and interpreted the data; NE, BBK, and AE drafted the manuscript; NE and AE critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors approved the version to be submitted; all authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

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Correspondence to Nesrin Ergin.

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Ethics approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Medical Faculty in Pamukkale University (60116787–020/83245).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Ergin, N., Kılıç, B.B., Ergin, A. et al. Sleep quality and related factors including restless leg syndrome in medical students and residents in a Turkish university. Sleep Breath 26, 1299–1307 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-021-02437-6

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