Association of smartphone addiction with pain, sleep, anxiety, and depression in university students

Abstract Introduction: Smartphone use has become a popular social communication phenomenon worldwide. Its excessive use can compromise daily routines and habits, which is associated with sleep disorders, stress, anxiety and pain. Therefore, the university student stands out, as they has a lifestyle in which it is necessary to reconcile daily activities with curriculum activities, aggravating psychosocial factors. Objective: To investigate whether smartphone addiction influences sleep quality, anxiety, depression and pain in university students. Methods: We carried out an analytical cross-sectional study. For data collection, the following self-administered questionnaires were used: Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI-BR), to assess smartphone dependence; Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), to evaluate sleep quality; Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, to assess anxiety and depression (HADS), where it was subdivided into HADS-A for anxiety and HADS-D for depression; and Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) to determine physical pain intensity. The sample consisted of 301 university students studying physiotherapy and physical education at the State University of Northern Paraná (UENP). They were divided according to the score obtained in the SPAI-BR between the “regular” group (up to 6 points) and “predisposed” to smartphone dependence (7 or more points). Results: The comparisons were statistically significant in favor of the regular group: the predisposed group obtained a higher score for the questionnaires used with an average NRS of 2.37 points, average HADS-D of 9.05 points and average HADS-A of 6.01 points. Differences between groups were statistically significant: NRS, p = 0.018; HADS-A, p = 0.001; HADS-D p = 0.001; and PSQI, p = 0.001. Conclusion: The university students analyzed in this study classified as predisposed were more prone to being addicted to their smartphone, and they were more likely to have anxiety, with a worse quality of sleep and with a greater intensity of pain.