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Investigating the Relationship between Caffeine Consumption Patterns and Depression, Anxiety, Stress and Sleep in Medical Students: A Structural Equation Model

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Zahra Mohammadi
Farzad Ebrahimzadeh 1
Fatemeh Abdoli 2
Ali Farhadi 3
Khatereh Anbari 4
Mojgan Azizi Rad 5

1 Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Nutritional Health Research Center, School of Health and Nutrition, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran

2 Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, Allameh Tabatabaei'i University, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Social Medicine. School of Medicin, Lotestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran

4 Department of Social Medicine, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Science, Khorramabad, Iran

5 Department of Psychology, Kho, C., Islamic Azad University, Khorramabad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22087/hmj.2025.231637
Abstract
Background and Aim: Many students turn to caffeine consumption to overcome drowsiness and depression. Moreover, caffeine intake can aggravate symptoms of anxiety, which is a predictor of depression. The present study was conducted to examine the effects of caffeine, anxiety, stress, sleep disturbance, and depression on medical students.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 278 medical students were selected using a multi-stage random sampling method.  We collected and examined various types of information, including the consumption pattern, and amount of consumption, caffeine use and measurement of depression, anxiety and stress, using demographic information questionnaires, caffeine consumption checklist, caffeine consumption disorder, Petersburg sleep disorder and depression, and anxiety as well as stress questionnaires, from the participants. Chi-square test and structural equation model under 0.05 significance level as well as SPSS version 26 and AMOS version 21 software were used for data analysis.
Results: The findings of the present study indicated that 15.9% of the participants suffered from severe or extremely severe levels of depression, and 84.2% were dissatisfied with their sleep quality. Sleep disturbance had the strongest overall and direct effect on students’ depression levels. Furthermore, caffeine consumption pattern affected depression both directly and indirectly through sleep disturbance, stress, and anxiety.
Conclusion: This study showed that depression among medical students is strongly associated with reduced sleep quality, which in turn might be influenced by excessive caffeine consumption

Keywords

Caffeine consumption patterns
Depression
Anxiety
Stress
Sleep
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