Chronotypes and their association with sleep quality among Chinese college students of Anhui Province: a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesTo describe the prevalence of chronotype and sleep quality among Chinese college students and explore the relationship between chronotype and sleep quality.DesignA cross-sectional study.SettingFour colleges and universities in Anhui, China, between November and December 2020.ParticipantsA total of 4768 college students were recruited using a stratified, multistage, cluster sampling survey.Outcome measuresMorningness-Eveningness Questionnaire 19 was used to determine the chronotype of the students and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to measure their sleep quality. The multiple logistic regression model was used to explore the potential association between chronotype and sleep quality.ResultsThe self-reported proportions of evening-type (E-type), neutral-type and morning-type among college students were 51.17%, 45.14% and 3.69%, respectively. The mean PSQI score was 4.97 +/- 2.82 and the prevalence of poor sleep quality was 18.2%. After adjusting the covariates by multiple logistic regression analysis, E-type was positively associated with subjective sleep quality (OR=1.671, 95% CI 1.414 to 1.975), sleep latency (OR=1.436, 95% CI 1.252 to 1.647), sleep duration (OR=2.149, 95% CI 1.506 to 3.067), habitual sleep efficiency (OR=1.702, 95% CI 1.329 to 2.180), daytime dysfunction (OR=1.602, 95% CI 1.412 to 1.818) and overall poor sleep quality (OR=1.866, 95% CI 1.586 to 2.196).ConclusionsCollege students mainly exhibited E-type, and an elevated prevalence of poor sleep quality existed among these students. The E-type was positively associated with poor sleep quality.