Association between sleep duration and quality and depressive symptoms among university students: A cross-sectional study

Sleep duration and quality have several effects on human health. Some previous studies have shown an association between sleep duration and quality and mental health, but the results of those studies were inconsistent. Additionally, studies on sleep duration and its impact on depressive symptoms specifically among young Chinese adults are limited. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the association between duration and quality of sleep and depressive symptoms among Chinese university students. We designed a cross-sectional study comprising 9,515 Chinese university students. Sleep duration and quality were assessed using a self-reported questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were assessed based on the Self-rating Depression Scale score. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between sleep duration and quality and depressive symptoms. The results showed that good sleep quality was associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms. In the final adjusted model, the odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the prevalence of depressive symptoms in those with poor sleep quality compared with those with normal and good sleep quality were 0.88 (0.77, 1.01) and 0.82 (0.81, 0.96), respectively (p for trend = 0.014). Moreover, short sleep duration was associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms based on the crude model and final adjusted model (p for trend = 0.048 and 0.042, respectively). Poor sleep quality and short sleep duration were associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms in this study population. These results suggest that reduced sleep duration and quality may be risk factors for mental health disorders among university students.