A Influência do Cronotipo na qualidade do sono em estudantes de medicina

Abstract

Introduction: Chronotype refers to individual preferences for activity and disposition throughout the day, intrinsically linked to the sleep-wake cycle and determined multifactorially, including multiple genetic influences. In the context of medical students, chronotype and individual needs that leads to a better sleep quality are often overlooked to meet academic and social demands, potentially compromising bothacademic performance and health of these students. Objective: To investigate the influence of chronotype on sleep quality in medical students. Materials and Methods: This is a cross sectional, observational, descriptive, and analytical study using a quantitative approach. The sampling was non-probabilistic by convenience and included medical students from the Lagarto Campus of the Federal University of Sergipe. Research instruments included were: Horne Ostberg (MEQ), to determine the chronotype; and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI - BR), to assess sleep quality. Data were tabulated in Microsoft Office Excel (2010) and analyzed using Stata 14 software (StataCorp LLC, Texas, USA). Individuals were categorized based on PSQI and MEQ score, and variables were evaluated using the Chi-square test with significance level of 5%., Results: The study included 176 medical students from UFS Lagarto campus, with an average age between 21 and 25 years and a homogeneous sample in terms of gender distribution (52.8% female and 47.2% male). The intermediate chronotype was most prevalent, representing 45.4% of the sample, followed by morning types at 36.9% and evening types at 17.6%. Only 30 students showed good sleep quality according to PSQI, while 117 demonstrated poor sleep quality and 24 exhibited sleep disorders. A statistically significant association was identified between evening chronotype and poor sleep quality among medical students at the Federal University of Sergipe Lagarto campus. Conclusion: Medical students from UFS Campus Lagarto have a high prevalence of poor sleep quality, especially among evening types, highlighting the need for further research to identify contributing factors and implement measures to improve sleep.