Assessment of Sleep Quality and Its Determinants among II MBBS Undergraduate Students in Kolhapur: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The quality of sleep among medical students is one of the most important factors determining learning, mental health and clinical performance but academic stress and irregular work schedule may be responsible for the disturbances of sleep. The present study aimed at evaluating sleep quality, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and its related factors amongst the second year MBBS students of Kolhapur district, Maharashtra. In May–June 2026, a cross-sectional survey included 115 students who were assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Google Form was used to collect data and analysed by SPSS version 26, Cronbach's α was performed to assess the reliability of the data and the significance of the statistical data was set at p<0.05. The average age of the participants was 20 years and the majority of participants (57%) were females. A high prevalence of poor sleep quality (PSQI >5) was found in 56.5% of the students; sleep latency was the most impaired domain. The average score of ESS was 7.7 ± 5.2, with 27.8% of the students showing mild to severe EDS. There was significant difference in gender and poor sleep quality (χ²=12.24, p=0.0005) with females being poorer sleepers than males. The value of B=0.324, with p=0.000, indicated that age was a significant predictor of sleep duration in regression analysis. Medical students had relatively poor sleep quality and EDS was common especially among females. The results indicate that there is a need for structured sleep hygiene education and stress management programs to be incorporated into the medical curriculum to protect academic outcomes, mental health and clinical competence.