Indian Journal of Sleep Medicine

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VOLUME 7 , ISSUE 1 ( January-March, 2012 ) > List of Articles

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

A Survey of the Demographics and Sleep Habits in Medical Students and House Officers in Singapore

Keywords : Demographics, Hypertension, Snoring, Sleep, Hypersomnolence

Citation Information : A Survey of the Demographics and Sleep Habits in Medical Students and House Officers in Singapore. Indian Sleep Med 2012; 7 (1):19-22.

DOI: 10.5958/j.0973-340X.7.1.005

License: NA

Published Online: 01-06-2018

Copyright Statement:  NA


Abstract

Background: To survey the sleep habits and the demographics of medical students and interns (house officers) at our institution. Methods: Third- and fifth-year medical students and interns at our hospital were surveyed between November 2006 and March 2007 using a confidential survey. Results: The response rate was 96.5%, with 221 individuals completing the survey. Of these, 59.2% were male and 38.0% were female, with 2.8% unknown. Their mean age was 23.8±1.4 years. There were 60 interns, 115 fifth-year medical students, and 46 third-year medical students. The mean sleep latency was 14.7±9.3 min, and the mean total sleep time was 6.1±1.0 h. Snoring was present in 13.6% of the subjects and 59.2% took afternoon naps on the weekends. Ten participants were admitted to having medical comorbidities, with hypertension affecting 2 people. The majority (77.3%) had daytime hypersomnolence, and 71.0% fell asleep returning home on public transport in the evenings. There were 16.7% who admitted to falling asleep at the wheel, but only 1.8% had car accidents attributable to falling asleep while driving. There were no significant differences between the three groups in all the categories. Conclusions: Participants of this survey were young and generally healthy, but were predominantly hypersomnolent during the day with a significant minority having microsleeps at the wheel. There may be more than one possible explanation for this.


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