To Study the Effect of Sleep Deprivation on the Academic Performance and Cognitive Behaviour on Medical Students of Jammu Region

Abstract

Background: Sleep deprivation is widespread among undergraduate medical students and has been implicated in impaired cognition and poorer academic outcomes, yet the magnitude of this relationship varies across populations. Region-specific data from North India, including the Jammu region, have been lacking. Aim: To assess the effect of sleep deprivation on academic performance and on cognitive function among undergraduate medical students. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu, over one year (2021-2022) on 179 consenting medical students. Sleep quality and duration were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and cognitive performance using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Academic performance was graded from internal assessment marks (good ≥50%, poor <50%). Data were analysed in IBM SPSS Statistics-26 using the chi-square test and Pearson correlation, with p<0.05 taken as significant. Results: The mean age of participants was 19.35 ± 0.93 years; 51.4% were male and 48.6% female. The mean PSQI score was 6.43 ± 2.86 and the mean MMSE score was 27.40 ± 1.96. Poor sleep quality (PSQI ≥5) was present in 76.5% of students, while 93.9% had normal cognition on MMSE. Neither sleep quality nor sleep difficulty showed a statistically significant association with academic performance (p=0.292 and p=0.819, respectively) or with cognition (p=0.299 and p=0.205, respectively). Pearson correlation showed weak negative correlations of PSQI score with cognition (r=-0.039, p=0.601) and with academic performance (r=-0.066, p=0.384). The odds ratio for good academic performance among students with good sleep quality was 1.97 (95% CI 0.55-7.03), and the odds ratio for normal cognition among students with good sleep quality was 0.512 (95% CI 0.142-1.841). Conclusion: Poor sleep quality was highly prevalent among the medical students studied, but no statistically significant association with academic performance or cognitive function was demonstrated in this cohort. Given the consistent adverse associations reported in the wider literature, institution-level screening and sleep-hygiene education remain warranted.

Keywords: Sleep deprivation; Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; Mini-Mental State Examination; academic Performance; cognition; Medical Students.