Sleep quality among medical students of Karachi, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To characterise sleep quality and assess degree of daytime sleepiness among medical students of Karachi. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted between August and December 2013 and subjects were recruited from five haphazardly selected medical colleges in Karachi. A convenience sample of medical students underwent two validated self-administered questionnaires i.e. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Epworth Sleepiness Scale. SPSS 17 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 650 students approached, 504(77.5%) subjects completely filled out the questionnaires. Of them, 300(59.5%) were females and 204(40.5%) were males. Overall mean age was 20±1.4 years. Of them, 199(39.5%) were classified as "Poor Sleepers". Poor sleep quality was associated with female gender (p <0.05), excessive daytime sleepiness (p <0.05), total hours slept (p <0.001) and sleep disturbances (p <0.001). Bed-timing analysis showed 365(72%) students went to bed after midnight. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep quality among Pakistani medical students was significantly poor. Efforts must be directed towards proper sleep hygiene education.

Restless Legs Syndrome among Pakistani Population: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Objective. Restless leg syndrome (RLS) is a chronic distressing disease characterized by an urge to move the legs with an unpleasantsensation during periods of rest. The global prevalence estimates of RLS range from 2.5% to 15%. Method. This cross-sectional study was conducted at various hospitals in Karachi during August 13 to March 14. The visitors who had accompanied patients to Outpatient Department or had come to visit admitted patients were approached conveniently. Subjects were interviewed regarding the essential criteria of RLS and its attributes. Results. The sample size was 390 with 56% being females. The point prevalence of RLS was estimated to be 23.6%. The prevalence in females was twice as high as compared to males. Smoking and low level of education were associated with RLS (P < 0.001). Among RLS positive individuals, 50.1% reported frequency of their symptoms to be greater than 16 days per month and 64.1% graded their symptom severity as mild to moderate. About 37% of RLS positive individuals consulted a general physician for their symptoms. Conclusion. RLS is highly prevalent and underdiagnosed condition among Pakistani population. Efforts must be directed to raise the awareness of this condition among physicians and general population.