Evaluating Sleep Behavior among Pediatric Residents in Tertiary Care Centers across Saudi Arabia

Background: Sleep is crucial for mental and physical health. Healthcare workers, especially in high-stress pediatric tertiary care, frequently experience sleep disturbances due to long workdays and on-call responsibilities. Despite its significant influence on medical professionals and patient safety, empirical research on Saudi Arabian pediatricians is notably lacking.
Objective: The study aimed to evaluate sleep behavior and quality among pediatric residents in tertiary care centers across Saudi Arabia.
Methods: This quantitative cross-sectional study focused on pediatric residents in Saudi Arabian Tertiary Care Centers from August 2024 to December 2025. An online survey, utilizing the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), assessed participant sleep quality. The survey comprised three sections: Consent for participation, sociodemographics and habits, and the PSQI itself.
Results: A total of 66 Saudi pediatric residents participated, with senior residents constituting 53% of the cohort. The findings indicated a substantial prevalence of poor sleep quality, observed in 78.8% of respondents. No statistically significant association was identified between PSQI scores and Body Mass Index (r=0.1, P=0.1). Furthermore, the prevalence of poor sleep did not demonstrate significant correlations with educational level (P=0.3), gender (P=0.7), marital status (P=0.4), smoking status (P=0.7) and parental status (P=0.5).
Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of poor sleep quality among pediatric residents in this study, which can influence their performance in work and lead to suboptimal care provided to the patients. However, we couldn’t determine any factor that influenced sleep quality, which may indicate the incorporation of other factors affecting the sleep quality.