The Sleep Quality of Medical Students in China: a Meta-Analysis

Sleep quality of medical students has generated conflicting results in China. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sleep quality of medical students in China by meta-analysis. Electronic databases were searched for studies concerning the sleep quality of medical students using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) published before March 6, 2017. Pooled weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were estimated with fixed or random effect models depending on the heterogeneity. Subgroup analyses, sensitivity analyses and publication bias were also performed. Eleven studies (7154 medical students and 9073 non-medical students) were included in this meta-analysis. The sleep quality of medical students was significantly higher in scores of subjective sleep quality (WMD, 0.137; 95% CI 0.049–0.224; P = 0.002), sleep duration (WMD, 0.147; 95% CI 0.069–0.225; P < 0.001), daytime dysfunction (WMD, 0.194; 95% CI 0.077–0.311; P = 0.001) and the total scores (WMD, 0.524; 95% CI 0.152–0.896; P = 0.006). On the contrary, there was no significant difference in sleep latency, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance and use of sleeping medications. This meta-analysis indicates that the sleep quality of medical students is worse than non-medical students in China. Further large and well-designed studies are needed to confirm these findings.