The relationship between academic success and sleep, stress and quality of life during the first year of physical therapy school.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between academic success and changes in predictor variables of aerobic fitness, sleep, stress and quality of life (QOL) in students enrolled in the first year of a physical therapist education program. This prospective longitudinal cohort study utilized 37 first-year Doctor of Physical Therapy students. We investigated the association between grade point average (GPA) and the various predictor variables. A multiple logistic regression model with backward selection was used to predict GPA. GPA greater than or equal to 3.5 or below 3.5 out of a 4.0 scale were used as the dichotomous events. The regression model with the selected-out predictors was a good fit ( = 0.011). About 60% of the variation in the outcome GPA binary can be explained by the selected predictors that were the changes in sleep and QOL. Achieving academic success can be affected by changes in sleep and QOL.