Prevalence of insomnia and its relation with academic performance of medical students in Qazvin University of Medical Sciences

Background: Sleep is an essential element for proper academic performance in medical students, but today’s young students are deprived of this. Previous studies in other countries showed high prevalence of sleep disturbances in college students, which affect their academic performance. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of insomnia in medical students of Qazvin University and its relation with their academic performance. Methods: This cross sectional self-administered questionnaire based survey was conducted at Qazvin University of medical sciences from 1-31 March, 2013. The participants were medical students. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was completed to identify prevalence of insomnia. Average of grade point was recorded for academic performance. Findings: Out of 230 medical students, 170 (73.9%) participated in the study. Mean sleep duration of students was 6.1±1.3 hours. The ISI score demonstrated that 28.8% of students were considered to have no clinical significant insomnia. Also, 71.2% of them were considered to have sub threshold and moderate severity of insomnia. Abnormal ISI score and lower hours of sleeping were associated with lower academic achievement (P