Interrelations of Situational Vertigo, Smartphone Use, Sleep Duration, and Headache Among College Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the relationships between situational vertigo, smartphone use, sleep duration, and headaches among college students.

Methods

A cross-sectional, descriptive correlational design and survey methodology were used. A total of approximately 55,000 students from three public and three private universities were considered for participation. A nonproportional stratified sampling method was used to target a sample size of 395 students per university. Data were collected using the Situational Vertigo Questionnaire (SVQ), which includes questions about sociodemographic factors, smoking habits, electronics usage, working hours, housekeeping activities, sleep duration, and headaches. The SVQ was translated to Arabic and validated. The statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, linear regression, and Pearson's correlation coefficient.

Results

This study included 1,600 participants with a mean age of 26.58 years. Significant correlations between the SVQ score and older age, female sex, and smoking were found. The strongest correlation was between the SVQ score and sleep duration (r = -0.84), indicating that a shorter sleep duration is associated with a higher incidence of situational vertigo. Smartphone use was positively correlated with the SVQ score (r = 0.67) and negatively correlated with sleep duration (r = -0.74). Additionally, headaches were associated with higher SVQ scores (r = 0.24).

Conclusion

We identified significant associations between situational vertigo and smartphone use, sleep duration, and headaches among college students. Female sex, older age, and smoking were also associated with higher susceptibility to vertigo. These findings suggest that excessive smartphone use may lead to sleep disturbances, which contribute to vertigo. Increased awareness of these relationships can inform the development of preventive measures and counseling strategies for students on college campuses and aid health care providers in managing patients with vertigo.