Hours of sleep as a risk factor for injury among working adolescents in rural Minnesota

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an association exists between sleep hours and injury among working adolescents.

Youth at Work, a cohort from 41 rural high schools in Minnesota, followed 15,002 students. Data were collected through a self-completed questionnaire by students four times during the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 school years. Questionnaire responses identified events and exposures in either the summer months (fall administration) or the school year (spring administration). A total of 41, 272 questionnaires were completed.

Risk of injury was estimated for different occupational categories, using sleep hours of less than seven, compared with seven or more hours of sleep every night. Multivariate analyses were conducted using Directed Acyclic Graphs to select confounders.

Controlling for potential confounders, adolescents who worked in agriculture during the summer months and reported less than seven hours of sleep every night had an increased risk of agriculture-injury (OR = 2.1; CI = 1.3, 3.4). Increased risks for work-related injury also were identified for those employed in summer recreational jobs such as life-guarding (OR = 2.7; CI = 1.0, 7.1) or in personal services occupations such as babysitting or lawn care (OR = 1.5; CI = 1.0, 2.5). Risk of work-related injury was increased for those working during the school year in medical or professional services, such as nursing homes and veterinary medicine facilities (OR = 3.4; CI = 1.5, 8.1).

These results indicate that sleep may play an important role in the safety of working adolescents, particularly in high- risk occupations.