Exploring the Relationship Between E-Cigarette Use Patterns and Sleep Quality in College Students
Linker Viñan Paucar1, Carlos Rodriguez Alarcon1, Samantha Chaw Naranjo1, Alexander Noritz Mero1, Dennise Freire Jimenez1, Camila Vera Granizo1, Maria Jose Cueva Espinoza1, Simone Muñoz Feijóo2, Natalia Borja Delgado1, Romina Cedeño Morejon1, Danny Japon Cueva1, Luis Yepez Guerra3, Joyce Jimenez Zambrano4
1Universidad Catolica de Santiago de Guayaquil, 2Universidad de Especialidades Espiritu Santo, 3Hospital General IESS Los Ceibos, 4Department of Neurology, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences & Sanford Health
Objective:
This study aims to establish the association between inhalant use patterns and sleep quality among college students.
Background:
The increasing popularity of e-cigarette usage among college students has sparked concerns regarding its potential repercussions on their health, specifically in terms of sleep quality. Quality sleep is essential for overall well-being as it significantly affects cognitive abilities and academic performance. Therefore, it is essential to examine the association between e-cigarette usage and sleep quality in this population.
Design/Methods:
This study involved college students aged between 18 and 30 years recruited through an online survey. Participants were categorized based on inhalant use patterns consisting on exclusive tobacco users, exclusive e-cigarette users, dual users, and non-smokers/non-vapers. Participants who reported illicit drug use were excluded. To evaluate sleep quality, participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was employed to examine differences in global sleep scores among these groups, and ANCOVA was also used to compare sleep quality scores based on e-cigarette usage frequency.
Results:
351 college students participated, with a majority (58.12%) being females and an average age of 21.16 years. Among them, 2.56% exclusively used tobacco, 20.51% exclusively used e-cigarettes, 33.04% were dual users, and 43.88% were non-smokers/non-vapers. The ANCOVA revealed significant differences in global sleep scores among these four groups (F=14.94, p<0.001). We further conducted ANCOVA to assess the relationship between sleep quality scores and e-cigarette usage frequency, finding no statistically significant differences among the groups (F=0.966, p=0.382).
Conclusions:
There was a significant variation in global sleep scores among individuals with different inhalant use patterns. Nonetheless, the frequency of e-cigarette utilization does not appear to exhibit an association with diminished sleep quality. These findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between inhalant use and sleep quality, warranting further investigation to develop targeted interventions for this population.