LAUSR

Abstract Introduction COVID-19 epidemic led to great psychological and social stress, related to anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, suicidal risk and behavior, and changes in daily routine. The aim of this study was to assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 lockdown in Italian students. We focused on perceived sleep quality, anxiety and depression symptoms, and mostly on risk of suicide. Methods A total of 307 students (mean age 22.84±2.68) completed Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). In our study, we focused on item 9 of BDI-II, that is related to suicide. We divided our sample on presence or absence of suicidal ideation based on this item. Results We found that 30.1% showed depressive, while 38.2% anxious symptoms. Concerning item 9 of BDI-II (suicidal thoughts or wishes), 84.7% answered that they do not have any thoughts of killing themselves, while 15.3% answered that they have some suicidal ideation. Concerning sleep variables, we found that 58% of our sample showed a PSQI total score higher than 5 (poor quality of sleep), and a global worsening in sleep quality and increase of insomnia both in student with and without suicidal ideation. Conclusion Our results on risk of suicide are in line with literature. Recent reviews focused on suicidal ideation in medical students found that depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation are common among medical students, finding a prevalence of suicidal ideation of 11%. Several studies suggest that sleep disorders are a risk factor for suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Our findings show that sleep cannot considered a predictive factor of risk of suicide during health emergency, because the risk is polyfactorial. Support (if any) None