Abstract
The physician’s work style reform aims at preventing ill health such as cardiovascular diseases caused by persisting inadequate sleep duration among Japanese physicians, In this study, we focus on the association between short sleep duration of less than 6 hours and weekly work hours of 60 hours or longer, shortest between-work interval of less than 9 hours, monthly voluntary study exceeding 10 hours, and high burden of family care.
Data analyzed here were obtained by anonymous self-administered questionnaire survey of fulltime physicians working in 76 Saiseikai hospitals throughout Japan in 2021. A total of 1,468 physicians answered the questionnaire, covering 35% of all physicians, and data of 1,054 physicians, 803 males and 251 females, without missing information were analyzed. A series of logistic regression analysis were performed with the short sleep duration as dependent variable and work hours, between-work interval, voluntary study and family care as independent variables.
Among male physicians, short sleep duration showed significant associations with work hours for both age 20-39 and 40+, and a significant association with high burden of family care for age 40+ but not for age 20-39. Among female physicians, short sleep duration showed a significant association of odds ratio of 4.7 with voluntary study for age 20-39, a significant association of odds ratio of 7.8 with high burden of family care for age 20-39, but did not show any significant association with work hours for both age 20-39 and 40+.
It is noteworthy that a strong association was identified between short sleep duration and high burden of family care among female physicians of age 20-39. Female physicians as a whole receive better considerations for high burden of family care as compared to male physicians, but those female physicians missing such considerations are suffering short sleep duration.
These female physicians should be the target for further countermeasures. Also, the association between short sleep duration and long hours of voluntary study warrants further considerations.
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