European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Background: Smartphone has become an integral part of our daily living. The issue of smartphone addiction is increasing worldwide, particularly among students. The study was done to assess the chronotype pattern in medical students and the association of smartphone addiction with sleep quality according to their circadian typology. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample comprising 525 medical students. Data was collected by circulating Google forms. Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire Self-assessment version (MEQ-SA), Smartphone addiction scale - Short version (SAS -SV), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Epworth Sleepiness Score (ESS) were administered to assess the chronotype, smartphone addiction, sleep quality, daytime sleepiness respectively. Results: Almost a quarter of students involved in the study could be classified as being "smartphone-addicted" (135, 25.7%) and 29.5% (n=155) had poor sleep quality. Study subjects were divided into evening chronotype  (57, 10.9%) intermediate chronotype (374, 71.2 %), and morning chronotype (94, 17.9%). Smartphone addiction was associated with eveningness chronotype (p=0.001) and poor sleep quality (p=0.001). The study did not find statistical significance between chronotype and poor sleep quality. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that a significant number of medical students had smartphone addiction and suffered from poor sleep quality. Circadian typology demonstrated a significant association with smartphone addiction.

Key Message

• There is a high prevalence of smartphone addiction among medical college students
• Smartphone addiction is associated with poor sleep quality
• Smartphone addiction is associated with evening chronotype