Sleep Deprivation and Depression

In this issue of SQUMJ, Al-Maddah et al. reported a significant association between sleep deprivation among medical trainees and depressive indices using the Beck Depression Inventory-2.1 Using a cross-sectional study design, the authors found that depressive symptoms were more profound with acute rather than chronic sleep deprivation. They attributed the emerging depressive symptoms among medical residents to the acute lack of sleep because of long working hours, but not to the number of on-call nights per week.