Sleep Deprivatoin in Medical Residents: Effects on Subjective and Objective Measures of Attention and Alertness

Fahd Zarrouf, MD

AnMed Lung and Sleep Center
Anderson, South Carolina

The impact of sleep deprivation (SD) on human cognitive functioning has received considerable research attention. The impact of SD on residents’ neurocognitive functions such as vigilance, attention,and memory is extremely important for their and their patients’ well being. We evaluate the effect of bedtime and total sleep time on several tests of attention, including the ZZ-Test (designed by our team and validated in previous study), Digit Span, Trail Making Tests, Stroop Color-Word Test and compare them with subjective measures of sleepiness. In medical residents, shorter sleep time and later bedtime correlated with lower attention and vigilance measured by multiple objective cognitive tests, but not with subjective sleepiness scales. This may reflect underestimation of subjective sleepiness in professionals. Limitations include no objective measures of sleep schedule (Actigraphy) and lower N at this time.

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