Korean J Fam Med.  2009 Nov;30(11):880-886. 10.4082/kjfm.2009.30.11.880.

Complaints of Fatigue and Dietary Life in Medical Students

• Lee SM
• Lee SG
• Lee JE
• Kong EH
• Choi JS

• KMID: 2304450
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4082/kjfm.2009.30.11.880

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Fatigue is a common problem in medical students and is thought to be related to poor academic performance. Fatigue is expected to be highly related to dietary habits, but previous research was not enough. Therefore, the aims of this study were to investigate the relationship between dietary habits and the prevalence of fatigue and also to give an update on basic research data for improving academic performance in medical students.
METHODS
The study group consisted of 170 healthy second-year medical students attending three university school of medicine in Busan. They completed a questionnaire dealing with fatigue (Fatigue Severity Scale), dietary habits, lifestyle, and academic performance.
RESULTS
On multivariate logistic regression analyses, skipping breakfast (completely skipping breakfast everyday versus having breakfast everyday; odds ratio 7.23; 95% confidence interval, 2.07 to 25.28; P = 0.002) was positively correlated with the complaints of fatigue.
CONCLUSION
Skipping breakfast was associated with the complaints of fatigue in medical students.

Keyword

Dietary Habit; Lifestyle; Fatigue; Medical Student

MeSH Terms

Breakfast
Fatigue
Food Habits
Humans
Life Style
Logistic Models
Odds Ratio
Prevalence
Students, Medical
Surveys and Questionnaires