Evaluation of daytime sleepiness and scholar performance in dentistry students

• Grant number: 16/00838-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2016
• End date: December 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Valfrido Antonio Pereira Filho
• Grantee: Ricardo Augusto Gonçalves Pierri
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia (FOAr). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The proper quantity and quality of sleep is essential to the individual's physical and mental development. Sleep disturbances are changes in the sleep cycle and may cause serious problems. For instance, daytime sleepiness, which is a common sleep disturbance, has been proved to be associated with car accidents, work accidents and medical errors. Medical errors are a major issue to public health care and must be avoided as often as possible. University students are an at risk population for developing daytime sleepiness due to a great load of work and activities at school. Health care students, especially dentistry students, tend to be more affected by this disturbance, because they have patient procedures as well as lectures, which leave less free time to study resulting in reduction of sleep time in order to study more. Thus, this study aims to identify and assess the daytime sleepiness prevalence I dentistry students, and assess possible correlated factors of this sleep disturbance. (AU)