Sleep disorders affecting police officers

More than 40 per cent of police officers screened positive for a sleep disorder, contributing to outcomes such as falling asleep while driving, uncontrolled anger towards suspects and health problems. The research was a two-year follow-up to a study of nearly 5000 police officers in the United States.

Sleep disorders including obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), insomnia and shift work disorder were detected, with most being undiagnosed and untreated at the time. OSA was estimated to affect 33 per cent of the police officers screened. Moderate to severe insomnia affected 6.5 per cent, and 28.5 per cent of police officers showed excessive sleepiness.

A/Prof Shantha Rajaratnam, Monash University

Journal of the American Medical Association;
http://www.monash.edu.au/news/show/sleep-disorders-affecting-police-officers