Daytime Sleepiness among Medical Students in University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.

Abstract

Background: Day time sleepiness remains an unexplored area of research in Nigeria despite its far reaching implication on cognitive function and productivity. This study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence of day time sleepiness among medical students in a Nigerian University.
Methods: A questionnaire based cross sectional descriptive study involving medical students of a Nigerian University. All levels of the medical school participated except for 300 and 600 level students who were not in session.
Subjects and methods: A total of 272 subjects (m=164(60.4%) and  (f=105(38.7%) with a mean of 21.4±2.9 years were recruited by convenience. In addition to socio demographics characteristics, subjects were required to give a self report of daytime sleepiness.
Results: A majority 198 (72.8%) of the subjects; M=118(59.6%) and F=80 (40.4%) suffered from day time sleepiness. 69/198 (34.8%) experienced daytime sleepiness everyday of the week. Day time sleepiness was more common among 100 and 400 level students. 95/198 (40.0%) of the subjects did not experience a refreshing night time sleep.
Conclusion: The high prevalence of day time sleepiness found in this study presents a public health concern since the presence of daytime sleepiness could be associated with underlying medical/ psychological disorders. There is a need for future studies to address these correlates of day time sleepiness. It is recommended that strategies to enlighten students on sleep hygiene should be pursued.

Keywords: Day time sleepiness, medical students, Nigeria.