Police officers work some of the most demanding schedules known, which increases their risk of sleep deprivation and sleep disorders. The need to work frequent overnight shifts and long work weeks leads to acute and chronic partial sleep deprivation as well as misalignment of circadian phase. The public expects officers to perform flawlessly, but sleep deprivation and unrecognized sleep disorders significantly degrade cognition, alertness, reaction time and performance. In addition, both acute and chronic sleep deprivation adversely affect personal health, increasing the risk of gastrointestinal and heart disease, impairing glucose metabolism, and substantially increasing the risk of injury due to motor vehicle crashes.

We propose to conduct a randomized, prospective study of the effect on the safety, health, and performance of a police department of a Comprehensive Police Fatigue Management Program (CPFMP) consisting of the following interventions:

1. scheduling improvements and policy developments to mitigate the adverse effects of extended duration work shifts and long work weeks;
2. identification and treatment of police with sleep disorders;
3. caffeine re-education; and
4. initiation of a sleep, health and safety educational program.

These interventions were chosen because we believe them most likely to lead to measurable improvements on work hours, health, safety, and job performance, and because they are cost effective. The success of the CPFMP will be assessed through an experimental comparison with a standard treatment group that will receive sleep education in the absence of any accompanying interventions. The overall goal of our team will be to develop and test the implementation of policy and scheduling improvements and a sleep health detection and treatment program that can be disseminated to practitioners, policymakers and researchers nationwide to reduce police officer fatigue and stress; enhance the ability of officers and their families to cope with shift schedules; improve the health, safety and performance of law enforcement officers; and thereby improve public safety.

Condition	Intervention
Sleep Disorders Sleep Apnea, Obstructive Restless Legs Syndrome Sleep Disorders, Circadian Rhythm Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders	Behavior: Sleep Hygiene Education  Procedure: Sleep Disorders Screening and Treatment

Further study details as provided by Brigham and Women''''s Hospital:

Primary Outcomes: Motor vehicle accidents as a function of miles traveled; Number of on-the-job injuries; Number of citations issued; Number of arrests made; Number of warnings issued; Number of officer-initiated vehicle assists; Number of sick leave days; Sleep duration; Sleep quality; Alertness; Performance
Secondary Outcomes: Job satisfaction; Burnout; Works hours
Expected Total Enrollment:  3600

Ages Eligible for Study:  18 Years and above,  Genders Eligible for Study:  Both

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Active Sworn Police Officers

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Please refer to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov identifier  NCT00246051

Conor S O''''Brien, BA      617 732-8385    cobrien@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
Sarah Edwards, BS      617 732-8524    sedwards@rics.bwh.harvard.edu

Massachusetts
      Brigham and Women''''s Hospital, Boston,  Massachusetts,  02115,  United States

Study chairs or principal investigators

Charles A. Czeisler, Ph.D., M.D.,  Principal Investigator,  Brigham and Women''''s Hospital   

Study ID Numbers:  SL00067
Last Updated:  December 8, 2005
Record first received:  September 13, 2005
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:  NCT00246051
Health Authority: United States: Institutional Review Board
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on 2006-01-10