Sleep disturbance and its association with depression and anxiety among Saudi adolescents and young adults: a systematic review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65759/bwcrds44Keywords:
Sleep disturbance, sleep quality, insomnia, depression, anxietyAbstract
Background: Sleep disturbance is increasingly reported among adolescents and young adults and is its linked with psychological symptoms. In Saudi Arabia, university and healthcare students represent an important young adult group exposed to academic stress, digital screen use, and irregular sleep habits. Objective: This systematic review aimed to analyze the association between sleep disturbance and depression or anxiety in Saudi adolescents and young adults. Methods: Our systematic review was guided by PRISMA principles. Electronic databases were searched, including PubMed, Web of Science, PubMed Central, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Embase. Eligible studies were original observational studies conducted in Saudi Arabia, included adolescents or young adults, assessed sleep disturbance, poor sleep quality, or insomnia, and reported depression or anxiety outcomes. We exclude reviews, editorials, commentaries, case reports, non-Saudi studies, and studies without relevant sleep or mental health outcomes. Data were extracted on study characteristics, population, sample size, assessment tools, sleep outcomes, depression, anxiety, and reported associations. Results: We include eight original cross-sectional studies. All studies were conducted among Saudi university, medical, or healthcare students, so the data mainly represented young adults rather than school adolescents. Poor sleep quality ranged from 63.2% to 80.3% in PSQI-based studies, while insomnia ranged from 19.3% to 34.9% in ISI-based studies. Depression and anxiety were common in the included studies. Most studies reported significant associations between poor sleep quality or insomnia and higher depression, anxiety, or stress symptoms. Conclusion: Sleep disturbance is common in Saudi young adults and is associated with depression and anxiety.
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