Association between temperature circadian rhythm and incidents reported by medical residents

MALENA L MUL FEDELE; GIANNINA BELLONE; JOAQUÍN CAGLIANI; DANIEL CARDINALI; HERNÁN SEOANE; JOAQUÍN DIEZ; DIEGO A GOLOMBEK; DANIEL E VIGO; MARIA DEL PILAR LÓPEZ GABEIRAS; GUIDO SIMONELLI; KUMIKO EIGUCHI; DANIEL PÉREZ CHADA

Congreso; Society for Research on Biological Rhythms virtual meeting; 2020

Society for Research on Biological Rhythms

During medical training, residents experience sleep disorders due to extended work hours, shift work and interrupted sleep. These alterations lead to a reduction in mental and physical performance capability which can affect resident?s safety and well-being, and have potentially adverse implications on patient care (Basner M 2017). Several studies reported an increase in medical resident?s errors working after an extended shift compared to after a night of sleep (Leroyer E 2014). The aim of the present study was to explore the presence of temperature rhythm alterations in medical residents and its relationship with incidents that happened to the professional at the hospital. We analysed these variables in a group of 31 medical residents from 5 different hospitals in Buenos Aires city. 35.5% reported incidents in the last week before the survey, 61.3% presented a high score on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS≥10) and 83.9% on the Pittsburgh Quality Index (PSQI≥14). Those who reported incidents showed higher values on the ESS (p=0.0219) and PSQI (p=0.0033) compared to the ones who didn?t. The temperature rhythm was recorded during 7 days and then we conducted a cosinor analysis to obtain the amplitude and percentage of variance of the oscillation. We have found that the residents who reported one or more incidents during the study week, had a lower amplitude (Mean ± SEM: 0,55 ± 0,13 vs 0,90 ± 0,09; p=0.023) and percentage of variance (Mean ± SEM: 14,64 ± 5,03 vs 26,22 ± 3,34; p=0.021) of the temperature rhythm compared to the ones who didn´t report any incident. These results suggest the development of new methods to monitor circadian misalignment due to extended shifts and sleep disorders in residents, to prevent future incidents and accidents in health care facilities.