ArticleCureus2026
Prevalence of Poor Sleep Quality and Associated Factors Among Medical Students in Saudi Arabia.
Article in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSleep disturbances are common among medical students, whose demanding academic environment combines heavy workloads, clinical rotations, and frequent examinations. This study examined the prevalence of poor sleep quality and its association with psychological distress, lifestyle factors, and electronic-device use (e.g., smartphones, tablets, and laptops) among medical students in Saudi Arabia.
methodsIn this cross-sectional study, 215 medical students from multiple Saudi universities completed an online self-administered questionnaire comprising sociodemographic, social, medical, and psychiatric items, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), and questions on electronic-device and screen use. Poor sleep quality was defined as a global PSQI score of >5. Associations were assessed using chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests, independent samples t-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, and Spearman's rank correlation, with p < 0.05 considered significant.
resultsPoor sleep quality was highly prevalent, affecting 79.1% of participants. Most sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, including age, gender, academic year, smoking, body mass index, and caffeine intake, were not significantly associated with sleep quality. Marital status reached significance (p = 0.043) but was limited by the very small number of married or divorced participants. Late-night device use was significantly associated with poor sleep (p = 0.046). Psychological distress was common (mean K10: 25.87 ± 10.56), with more than half of the students (51.2%) reporting moderate-to-severe distress. Poor sleepers had significantly higher K10 scores than good sleepers (27.65 ± 10.06 vs. 19.13 ± 9.73; p < 0.001) and nearly sixfold higher odds of moderate-to-severe distress (odds ratio: 5.86; 95% CI: 2.65-12.93), and PSQI scores correlated positively with K10 scores (ρ = 0.442; p < 0.001).
conclusionsPoor sleep quality is highly prevalent among medical students in Saudi Arabia and is associated with greater psychological distress and late-night device use. Structured sleep hygiene programs, guidance on night-time device use, and routine screening for psychological distress are warranted. The cross-sectional design precludes causal inference.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.