Smartphone Addiction and its Impact on Insomnia among the Undergraduate Medical Students of a Teaching Hospital of Maharashtra, India-A Cross-sectional study

Introduction: Smartphone addiction is a type of behavioural addiction. Because of their alluring and exciting features, they have become favourite among young adults. Medical students are also prone to develop smartphone addiction. Excessive use of these devices has produced detrimental effect on physical and psychological well-being of an individual. Continuous exposure to screen has reduced sleep duration, delayed sleep onset and poor sleep quality. Aim: To assess the prevalence of smartphone addiction and its impact on insomnia among undergraduate medical students. Materials and Methods: Present online cross-sectional study was conducted by the Department of Psychiatry of Government Medical College, Akola, Maharashtra, India, over a period of three days from October 3, 2021 to October 5, 2021 on undergraduate MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery)students of the selected college. This study was an online survey by using Smartphone Addiction Short Version Scale (SAS-SV) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) scale to assess smartphone addiction and insomnia respectively. A total of 275 complete responses were included in the study. Statistical analysis was carried out by using chi-square test and Pearson's correlation test. Results: A total of 275 complete responses of the undergraduate medical (MBBS) students, age 18-25 years,143 males and 132 females,were included. Smartphone addiction was found to be present among 181 (65.8%) medical students. It was significantly associated with factors such as spending more than three hours per day on smartphone, having perceived bad impact of increased smartphone use over academic performance and facing criticism regarding increased smartphone use. Insomnia was present among 143 (52%) medical students, of which 82 (29.8%) had mild, 47 (17.1%) had moderate, and 14 (5.1 %) had severe insomnia. Significant correlation (r-value 0.35; p- value<0.001) existed between the smartphone addiction and the severity of insomnia among study participants. Conclusion: This study reveals alarming rise in smartphone addiction and its impact on insomnia among medical undergraduates. There is a need of continuous supervision and intervention program for early detection of addiction and safeguarding the well-being of medical students.