Effects of Mobile Phone Use on Anxiety, Depedency, and Sleep in Medical and Health Professions Graduate Level Students

Since 2000, the cellular phone market has exponentially grown, with 89% of the world now owning a cellular phone. For many, the overpowering need to constantly be accessible leads to problems in anxiety and mobile phone dependency – resulting in the emergence of “nomophobia”, or the discomfort associated with being without a mobile phone.   In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the effects of mobile phone use on 292 graduate-level students using an anonymous, online survey, the “Mobile Phone Disturbance Questionnaire (MPDQ)”, which characterized an individual’s risk of the mobile phone related (MPR) comorbidities of anxiety, dependency and insomnia. 

 MPDQ responses were examined in the context of low, moderate, and high use strata.  Using multivariate regression analysis, the survey identified not having a smartphone as a protective factor for MPR anxiety and dependency (OR=0.159, 95% CI=0.051,0.497 and OR=0.085, 95% CI=0.017,0.4129, respectively).  Conversely, being male was found as a risk factor for MPR dependency (OR=2.360, 95% CI=1.058, 5.263).  The MPDQ confirmed previous findings that younger ages, specifically those under 30 years, experience significantly higher rates of MPR anxiety, dependency, and insomnia (p-values <0.05).  Our results address the growing concern of mobile phone addiction and should be considered when regulating and enforcing mobile phone use of various populations in the future.