Background Heavy truck drivers may accumulate sleep-related fatigue risks from long driving hours, night work, poor rest conditions, and obstructive sleep apnea. Evidence from North Africa combining occupational exposures with objective sleep assessment remains limited. Objective To characterize occupational fatigue exposures, sleep disruption, and OSA and examine associations with OSA among heavy truck drivers in Central Algeria. Methods This cross-sectional occupational health study included 201 professional heavy truck drivers in Laghouat Province, Central Algeria (September 2020–February 2021). Data were collected by structured medical interview and clinical examination. All drivers completed STOP-Bang screening; 80 at moderate or high risk underwent overnight polysomnography. Group comparisons, a descriptive four-factor co-occurrence count, and crude and adjusted logistic models were used. Results Very prolonged driving affected 39.8%; 21.9% drove >4.5 consecutive hours without a break. Night work was reported by 66.1%. Environmental or operational sleep-disrupting conditions affected 19.9%, including nighttime queuing for loading in 7.5%. Using the two-step strategy, screen-detected, polysomnography-confirmed OSA was identified in 52 drivers (25.9%), including moderate-to-severe disease in 14.4%. Half of drivers (50.2%) had at least two co-occurring fatigue-related factors, and 24.9% had three or four. Exploratory adjusted models showed associations of detected OSA with longer driving, night work, night-shift frequency, memory impairment, and recent accidents. Conclusion Heavy truck drivers had coexisting occupational fatigue exposures, disrupted rest, and untreated OSA. Prevention should integrate work organization with non-punitive OSA screening and treatment.
Objective To examine trends in multiple dimensions of sleep among Norwegian higher education students from 2018 to 2026 and describe sociodemographic inequalities in 2026. We also explored whether changes differed across various sociodemographic groups. Methods We analyzed repeated cross-sectional data from the Students’ Health and Wellbeing Study in 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2026 among students aged 18 to 25 years. Outcomes included insomnia, sleep duration and timing, sleep initiation and continuity, sleep efficiency, and social jetlag. The 2026 wave was also used to examine sociodemographic differences in sleep duration, insomnia, and daily or weekly use of over-the-counter and prescription sleep medication. Exploratory interaction analyses assessed sociodemographic group differences in changes in insomnia and weekday sleep duration. Results Insomnia was highest in 2021 and declined thereafter. Among men, age-adjusted prevalence was 21.2% in 2018, 32.1% in 2021, 24.6% in 2022 and 17.1% in 2026; corresponding estimates among women were 33.1%, 46.6%, 37.6% and 27.6%. Weekday sleep duration increased from 7:27 to 7:40 among men and from 7:29 to 7:42 among women. The strongest sociodemographic gradients in 2026 were observed for financial strain. Students who often had financial difficulties slept 7:09 versus 7:48 among those with none, with insomnia prevalence of 45.1% versus 19.3%. Those with frequent debt repayment problems slept 6:47 and had 49.9% insomnia prevalence. Non-binary/trans students also had shorter sleep duration (7:20) and higher insomnia prevalence (37.6%). Changes differed across selected sociodemographic groups but did not indicate a consistent widening of inequalities. Conclusion Several dimensions of student sleep worsened during the pandemic but improved by 2026. Poor sleep nevertheless remained common and was most consistently associated with financial difficulties and debt repayment problems.
Recent studies provide evidence of fatigue as an important symptom in narcolepsy, however to date, no disease-specific measurement tool for fatigue was developed in the specific context of narcolepsy. Moreover, the observed overlap between Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) and fatigue necessitates a clear differentiation between the two symptoms.Based on a face validity study comparing different tools, the 7-item self-report PROMIS-SF7A (PSF7A) was considered as an appropriate choice but required a specific assessment in narcolepsy. A longitudinal study of 521 patients with narcolepsy was conducted in six countries using the PSF7A. Our results supported validity of PSF7A through factorial and construct assessment, reliability summarized by intra-class correlation ICC=.828, a corresponding Standard Error Measurement SEM=3.09, derived minimum Important Difference MID≅3.95, Internal consistency α=0.842 [.821,.863], a sensitivity to change SSC= 3.91 [3.61, 4.18], and a resulting Meaningful Score Difference MSD ≅4.Although fatigue and EDS are known to overlap, four distinct and consistent analyses support their separability as two constructs and the use of ESS and PSF7A as distinct measures.
Objectives Sleep plays a crucial role in athletes’ recovery and performance. However, a significant proportion of athletes report night sweats impairing sleep. There is currently a lack of comprehensive data on frequent nighttime sweating-related sleep disturbance and its associated factors, including training and competition conditions, health-related behaviors, and sleep difficulties. Methods This study analyzes cross-sectional data from 2,293 Swiss (junior) elite athletes (16–68 years) across 52 sports. The prevalence of frequent nighttime sweating-related sleep disturbance was estimated, and associated factors were examined using regression and exploratory network analysis. Results We found that 13.2% of athletes experience frequent nighttime sweating-related sleep disturbance at least once a week. Frequent nighttime sweating-related sleep disturbance was associated with reported symptoms of insomnia, nightmares, and restless legs syndrome (RLS), and alcohol consumption. Sweating-related sleep disturbance is a well-connected but not dominant node in this network. The largest link involving nighttime sweating-related sleep disturbance was observed with RLS risk. We found no association with evening training after multivariable adjustment. Conclusions Frequent nighttime sweating-related sleep disturbance formed part of a broader pattern of self-reported sleep difficulties. Longitudinal studies with objective assessment of nocturnal sweating are needed to clarify the direction and clinical relevance of these associations.
Objectives The present study aimed to investigate associations between shortened working hours and sleep and health outcomes among employees. Methods A pre–post survey design was used to examine changes in sleep and health among Swedish and Norwegian employees following a six-month implementation of reduced working hours. Data were collected before the intervention (n = 269) and after six months (n = 212). Although the follow-up sample consisted of a subset of the baseline participants, responses could not be linked at the individual level; therefore, the two samples were analyzed as independent groups. Results At baseline, 59.9% of participants were women and 38.3% were men, and 73.2% were aged 25–49 years. Average sleep duration increased from 6.64 to 6.97 h per night (p < .001). Descriptively, the proportion of participants reporting frequent insomnia or sleep difficulties was lower at follow-up than at baseline. Self-rated mental and physical health also improved significantly (both p < .001). Conclusions A reduction in working hours was associated with improvements in sleep duration and self-rated health. These findings suggest that shortened working hours may benefit employee well-being, although confirmation in studies with paired longitudinal data is needed.
