College students seem to be a population group that is increasingly recognized to be at risk of having sleep difficulties. Some studies revealed that medical students, in particular, are believed to be more stressed and sleep deprived than their non-medical peers.

The present work aimed at investigating the quality of sleep among medical students at the University College of Medicine in Sfax, Tunisia.

The study consisted of an anonymous, voluntary survey for a sample of 74 students. A two-part questionnaire was used, including demographic criteria and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), a self-rated instrument that measures sleep habits for a month (a total score of 5 or greater is indicative of poor sleep quality).

The average age was 24 years (range 19–33) with a sex ratio almost equal to 1. In 47.3% of cases, students were married. These latter had at least one child in 34.2% of cases. A total of 39.4% of the students reported being smokers, while 25.6% of them admitted having regular alcohol consumption.

Poor sleep quality was reported by 63.5% of students with a PSQI average score of 9.32 ± 3.64.

The most correlated factors with poor sleep quality were parenthood (P = 0.031), alcohol consumption (P = 0.004) and stressful studies (P = 0.02).

Poor sleep quality was pervasive among surveyed medical students and this seemed to be in relationship with some factors. This study points to the need for further evaluation of medical students’ sleep problems in order to improve their performance and their quality of life as well.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.