Association of cognitive impairment with sleeping difficulties, anxiety and depression among Pakistani physicians.

Previous literature has highlighted a high burden of a variety of psychopathologies such as anxiety, depression, and poor sleep quality among Pakistani physicians. These psychopathologies are associated with a poor quality of life and cognitive difficulties, affecting empathy levels, doctor patient relationship, and work performance. It is a cross sectional study in which 300 Pakistani physicians aged 45 and above, were interviewed using a questionnaire comprising hospital anxiety and depression scale, cognitive difficulties scale, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. All data were analyzed in SPSS v.21. A total of 268 doctors responded (268/300). A total of 72 (26.9%) participants were severely anxious, 31 (11.6%) were severely depressed and 129 (48.1%) respondents were poor sleepers. Hierarchal regression analysis revealed that female gender, increasing age, high PSQI and anxiety scores were significant predictors of cognitive difficulties among the respondents.