Schlafstörungen bei Medizinischen Technolog*innen für Radiologie in Deutschland: eine Querschnittstudie

The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of sleep disorders and the extent to which sleeping pills were taken by medical technologists for radiology (MTR) and to identify associated factors.

This study was a cross-sectional survey of German MTRs. Self-developed items were used to ask about sleep quality and sleep disorders in addition to sociodemographic and job-related factors.

A total of 274 MTRs (90.9% women) were included in the analysis. Of the participants 67.9% stated to have insomnia. Overall, problems with sleeping through (85.4%) occurred more frequently than problems with falling asleep (67.2%), whereby 54.3% of those affected reporting suffering from both forms. An average weekly working time of more than 42 h was significantly associated with the presence of sleep disorders (odds ratio [OR] 3.22, 95% confidence interval …[CI] 1.51; 6.85; p = 0.002; vs. 35–42 h). In addition, a significant association with age was found, which increased the odds of having sleep disorders threefold (OR 3.13, 95% CI 1.40; 6.97; p = 0.005) in those aged 40–49 years and fivefold (OR 5.02, 95% CI 2.13; 12.16; p < 0.001) in those aged ≥ 50 years (vs. 18–29 years). About one fifth of the people with insomnia said they rarely (17.7%) or regularly (3.2%) used sleeping pills.

This study shows that around two thirds of the participating radiographers suffer from sleep disorders, which are most likely associated with increased age and weekly working time of more than 42 h.