Introduction:

Sleep is important for the proper performance of the individual since it participates in many biological processes. Medical students often do not get the recommended amount of sleep per day, this affects their quality of sleep, with repercussions on their quality of life.

Objective:

To identify the association between sleep quality according to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire and quality of life according to the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL - BREF) questionnaire of the World Health Organization (WHO) and describe the most prevalent risk factors for sleep disorders in medical students from the Catholic University Santiago de Guayaquil (UCSG).

Methods:

Cross-sectional observational study in UCSG medical students.

Results:

The questionnaires were completed by 211 students; the mean age was 20,8 ± 2,6 years; 62,1% were women. The mean BMI was 23,1 ± 3,8, 20,4% of the students were overweight and 4,3% were obese. The mean score in the PSQI obtained in the study population was 7,2 ± 3,1 and in the WHOQOL - BREF was 60,9%. Pearson's correlation coefficient, r2, between both variables was -0.33 (p: <0.01).

Conclusion:

Poor quality of sleep is inversely correlated with quality of life. The quality-of-life domain most associated with poor sleep quality was the physical domain. The most frequent risk factor for poor quality sleep was snoring.