Investigation the Relation between Sleep and Quality of Life for College Students in Taiwan by Association Rule Mining

Background and objectives: Quality of life and sleep quality of college students were extensively studied. The present study evaluated sleep quality and quality of life of college students in Taiwan by using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), respectively. Materials and Methods: Data of 1756 college students aged 20–24 years were collected in this study. Association rule analysis was also used to provide a graphics-based visualization of the relationships between data, enabling the rapid identification of data correlations. Results: The results showed that the average physical component scale (PCS) and average mental component scale (MCS) scores were 52.9 and 44.1, respectively. Based on their body mass index (BMI), participants were divided into underweight, normal, overweight, and obese groups. The results of one-way analysis of variance showed that the p values for the PSQI, PCS, and MCS scores were 3.5 × 10−5, 1.7 × 10−5, and 0.671, respectively. The normal and overweight groups had the lowest PSQI scores. The PCS score of the obese group was lower than that of normal and overweight groups. The p values of the t-test result among PSQI, BMI, PCS, and MCS groups were 0.002, −16, and −16, respectively. The good sleep quality group had higher PCS and MCS scores. Conclusions: In this study, the results of association rule analysis indicated two distinct groups: Group 1, with the characteristics of good sleep quality as revealed by the high MCS and PCS scores, and Group 2, with the characteristics of poor sleep quality as revealed by low MCS and PCS scores and underweight BMI