EQSAR: A national survey of sleep duration among French Anaesthesiologists and Intensivists

Abstract

Introduction: The US National Sleep Foundation recommends more than 7 hours of sleep per night for adults. Anaesthesiologists and intensivists (AI) are at high risk of short sleep time. The aim of this present survey was to assess the sleep duration of French AI and to identify independent factors related to a sleep time less than the recommended 7 hours.

Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted between April and June 2018 and included 6,210 French AI with night-work obligations. The primary outcome variable was sleep duration strictly inferior to 7 hours per night. The covariables included in the multivariable model were selected after the univariate analysis, with those with a p < 0.05 included in the final model.

Results: Of the 6,210 AI, 3,699 responded to the survey, and 2,483 were included in the analysis. Of the 2,483 responders, 1,533 (61.7%) reported sleep duration strictly less than 7 hours per night. After the multivariate analysis, the following risk factors were independently associated with sleep duration strictly under 7 hours: age (OR: 1.28 ; IC [1.19 - 1.37]), more than 5 on-call shifts per month, (OR: 1.41 ; IC [1.30 - 1.50]), active smoking (OR: 1.37 ; IC [1.07 - 1.75]), and screen consultation at bedtime (OR: 1.85 ; IC [1.31 - 2.62]).

Conclusion: This study gives a recent overview of sleep time and quality of French AI. It could be a useful tool for monitoring sleep disorders among the practitioners and their impact on quality of life.

Keywords: anaesthesiologists; sleep disorders; sleep quality; sleep time; survey.