title: Effects of Acute Sleep Deprivation Resulting from Night Shift Work on Young Doctors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To evaluate sleep deprivation and its effects on young physicians in relation to concentration capacity and psychomotor performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighteen physicians aged 26 - 33 years were divided into 2 groups: non-sleep deprived group (with no night work) and sleep deprived group (minimum 12 hour of night work/week). We applied Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index to screen the presence of sleep pathology and Epworth Sleepiness Scale to evaluate subjective daytime sleepiness; we used actigraphy and sleep diary to assess sleep hygiene and standard sleep-wake cycles. To demonstrate the effects of sleep deprivation, we applied Toulouse-Piéron's test (concentration test) and a battery of three reaction time tasks after the night duty.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sleep deprived group had higher daytime sleepiness on Epworth Sleepiness Scale (p < 0.05) and during week sleep deprivation was higher (p < 0.010). The mean duration of sleep during the period of night duty was 184.2 minutes to sleep deprived group and 397.7 minutes to non-sleep deprived group (p < 0.001). In the Toulouse-Piéron's test, the sleep deprived group had more omissions (p < 0.05) with a poorer result in concentration (p < 0.05). Psychomotor tests that evaluated response to simple stimuli revealed longer response latency (p < 0.05) and more errors (p < 0.05) in Sleep deprived group; in reaction to instruction test the sleep deprived group showed worse perfection index (p < 0.05); in the fine movements test there was no statistically significant difference between the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Acute sleep deprivation resulting from nocturnal work in medical professions is associated with a reduction in attention and concentration and delayed response to stimuli. This may compromise patient care as well as the physician's health and quality of life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is essential to study the effects of acute sleep deprivation on the cognitive abilities and performance of health professionals.
authors.affiliation: Pneumology Department. Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra. Coimbra. Portugal.
authors.forename: Inês
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sanches
authors.affiliation: Pneumology Department. Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra. Coimbra. Portugal. Sleep Medicine Center. Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra. Coimbra. Portugal.
authors.forename: Fátima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.affiliation: Sleep Medicine Center. Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra. Coimbra. Portugal.
authors.forename: José Moutinho
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.affiliation: Pneumology Department. Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra. Coimbra. Portugal. Pneumology Department. Faculdade de Medicina. Universidade de Coimbra. Coimbra. Portugal.
authors.forename: António Jorge
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010820:Physicians; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011788:Quality of Life; D000073577:Shift Work Schedule; D012890:Sleep; D012892:Sleep Deprivation