Sleep and Hypnosis: A Journal of Clinical Neuroscience and Psychopathology 2019;21(1):9-15
Alireza Haji Seyed Javadi, Ali Akbar Shafikhani
Researchers showed comorbidity of sleep disorders and mental disorders. The current study aimed to evaluate depression and anxiety and their relationship with insomnia, nightmare and demographic variables in the medical students of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences in 2015. The study population included 253 medical students with the age range of 18-35 years. Data were gathered using Beck depression inventory, Cattle anxiety, and insomnia and nightmare questionnaires and were analyzed by proper statistical methods (independent T-test, Chi-square test and Spearman correlation coefficient (P<0.05). Among the participants, 126 (49.6%) subjects had depression and 108 (42.5%) anxiety. The prevalence of depression and anxiety among the subjects with lower family income was significantly higher (X2=6.75, P=.03 for depression and X2=27.99, P<0.05 for anxiety). There was a close relationship between depression with sleep-onset difficulty, difficulty in awakening and daily sleep attacks, and also between anxiety with sleep-onset difficulty and daily tiredness (P <0.05). In addition, there was a close relationship between depression and anxiety with nightmare; 16.2% of the subjects with depression and 26.5% of the ones with anxiety experienced nightmares. Results showed a relationship between nightmare, insomnia and level of family income with increasing depression and anxiety in the medical students. These results can help to perform the preventive mental health program in the medical students.
Keywords: Depression, Anxiety, Insomnia, medical students.