Profile of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms Associated with Sleep Quality of Medical Students in the Eastern Amazon

Objective: An adequate sleep is essential for good mental health. Thus, this study associated the prevalence of the main symptoms of anxiety and depression with sleep quality in medical students at a Brazilian university center, a population frequently affected by these disorders.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study, with data obtained through online questionnaires answered by medical students, during the year 2022. To assess symptoms of depression and anxiety, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used, while, to assess the quality of sleep, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).

Results: 229 students participated in the study. Of these, 51% had anxiety symptoms. As for depression, 27,5% had depression symptoms. With regard to sleep quality, 28% had poor sleep quality and 71% good quality. There was a significant association between sleep quality and anxiety and depression symptoms (p<0.001): of the individuals with good sleep quality, 51% had possible and probably anxiety and 21,2% were classified as possible and probably depression. Furthermore, about the students with poor sleep quality: 80% were possible and probably anxious students and 43,8% were possible and probably depressive.

Conclusions: The study documents a statistically significant association between anxiety and depression symptoms and poor sleep quality. Further multicentric analyzes are needed to understand this scenario.