Introduction.

Worldwide, mental health disorders, such as anxiety, are one of the leading causes of morbidity, and medical students are the most vulnerable. Wakefulness and sleep affect cognitive brain functions.

Aim.

To identify the association between sleep disorders and anxiety among medical students.

Subjects and methods.

We conducted an analytical, cross-sectional study. Two validated questionnaires were used with informed consent: the 21-item Beck Anxiety Inventory (anxiety levels) and the 15-item Oviedo Questionnaire (sleep disorders); and for the diagnosis of insomnia and hypersomnia, the diagnostic criteria of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, were followed. Association statistics were obtained.

Results.

Out of 217 students, 43.3% had minimal anxiety, 16.7% had moderate anxiety and 6.5% had severe anxiety. General anxiety was reported by 23.3%, insomnia by 37.2% and hypersomnia by 2.3%. A preliminary bivariate analysis found that anxiety was associated with age (p = 0.034); insomnia was associated with level of anxiety (overall p < 0.001) and with having anxiety or not (p < 0.001), and hypersomnia was associated with level of anxiety (overall p = 0.01).

Conclusions.

Age, insomnia and hypersomnia were associated with anxiety. This is important, as it exhibits a preventable problem and can give rise to prevention programmes in medical students.

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