ReviewSleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society2025
Global prevalence of insomnia symptoms in undergraduate university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of Tai Chi on Mental Health in college students: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Exercise interventions to improve sleep quality in university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- The effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on state and trait anxiety among undergraduates with insomnia symptoms: a randomized control trial.BMC psychology · 2026Trial
- Sleep Characteristics and Mental Health Among Kuwait University Students: Sensitivity Analyses for Item Overlap.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Sleep Disturbances as a Statistical Mediator Between Perceived Academic Stressors and Emotional, Cognitive, and Physical Stress Responses in University Students.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Parent-child alienation, peer alienation, and sleep disturbance in Chinese college students: a longitudinal study of bidirectional relationships and gender differences.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Association of Sleep Patterns and Sleep Quality with Academic Performance Among Female University Students: Insights Supporting SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being).Clocks & sleep · 2026Article
- The Moderated Mediation Role of Depressive Symptoms and Physical Health in the Relationship Between Physical Exercise and Sleep Quality Among Emerging Adults.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Beyond Threshold Prevalence: Reframing Treatment Use and Hidden Burden in Student Insomnia.Current therapeutic research, clinical and experimental · 2026Article
- Psychobiological Correlates of Perceived Physical Activity Barriers: Insomnia, Chronotype, and Caffeine Consumption.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Reflecting on 2025. Anticipating 2026.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2026Article
- The relationship between sleep quality and physical learning engagement among Chinese college students: a variable centered and person centered analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Academic stress profiles and bedtime procrastination among college students: the mediating role of rumination and the moderating effect of perceived stress.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Associations of smartphone addiction and physical activity with sleep quality and neck/shoulder symptoms in university students: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The effects of cluster-set resistance training on mental health and sleep quality in sedentary young women: protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Insomnia is increasingly recognized as a public health concern; however, undergraduate university students remain relatively understudied. This study aimed to estimate the overall pooled prevalence of insomnia symptoms in this population to inform the need for targeted care. For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched five databases to identify papers published between January 1, 1993, and January 17, 2025, which investigated the prevalence or proportion of insomnia in undergraduate university students using validated measures. Studies with biased samples were excluded. Study quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tool. Data were synthesized using random-effects meta-analysis and meta-regression. Subgroup analyses were conducted based on continent, screening instrument, field of study, and sampling method. The review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42025617914). The search yielded 2379 non-duplicate citations, of which 48 met the inclusion criteria, contributing 55 prevalence estimates based on data from 95 938 students. The pooled prevalence of insomnia in undergraduate university students was 46.9% (95% CI = 40.1% to 53.6%). Heterogeneity was high (
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.