Background: Smartphone is now an inevitable device for the populace, with its use growing progressively worldwide. There is lack of published literature focusing on the consequences of smartphone addiction on middle-aged and older adults in Nigeria. This study investigated the association between smartphone addiction, psychological status, insomnia and pain-related disability of the neck among staff of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL).
Materials & Methods: This study involved the use of cross-sectional survey to investigate 271 (106 females, 165 males) staff of CMUL, Lagos, mean age (45.797±9.28 years) via purposive sampling technique in 2022. Four standard questionnaires were used for data collection; smart phone addiction scale (SAS), depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS), neck pain disability index (NDI), and insomnia severity index (ISI).
Results: The results revealed that 80 (29.5%) staff of college of medicine were addicted to smartphone use. Eleven (4.1%) staff of this college had severe depression, 16 (5.9%) had extremely severe anxiety while nine (3.3%) were severely stressed. Nine (3.3%) participants had clinical insomnia and five (1.8%) had moderate to severe problem with their neck. It was revealed that there was a significant association between smartphone addiction, pain-related disability of the neck (p=0.023), and insomnia (p=0.001). However, no significant association existed between depression (p=0.578), anxiety (p=0.060), stress (0.685), and smartphone addiction level of the participants
Conclusion: Smartphone addiction is predominant among staff of CMUL, and it is associated with neck pain-related disability and insomnia.
