Study Links Early School Start Times, Teen Auto Accidents

3/27/2002

From: Kimberly Van Brunt of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 507-285-6006

ROCHESTER, Minn. March 27 -- Do high schools that start the day early in the morning put their students at greater risk of getting into a car accident? Research that will be presented at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies' Annual Meeting in June 2002 suggests that they do. Add waking up an hour earlier for Daylight Saving Time on April 7, and your teen may increase that risk even more while his or her body adjusts to a new sleep schedule.

Fred W. Danner, Ph.D. of the University of Kentucky conducted a study in one school district to discern whether shifting school start times to one hour later would make a difference in the rate of teen crashes. It did. In the fall of 1998, the school district in Fayette County, Ky., changed their high school start time from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. In the year following this change, students averaged up to 50 minutes more sleep per weekday night. "If one can presume that this additional sleep promoted daytime alertness, then this benefit might show up in auto accident statistics," Danner stated.

The state of Kentucky keeps detailed auto collision statistics, by age and residence of driver. Crash rates for students in Fayette County were computed for the two years prior to the school start change, and the two years following it. In the county, crash rates for 16-, 17-, and 18-year olds dropped following the change, while crash rates for 17- and 18-year olds actually increased in the rest of the state.

Danner concludes that "moving the high school start time one hour later in a single county was associated with a drop in auto collision rates for high school aged drivers in that county, while crash rates increased in the rest of the state during the same time period. While one cannot make any cause and effect statements with a simple association, these data are consistent with the idea that allowing adolescents to sleep more has a measurable effect on their safety."

The Associated Professional Sleep Societies, a partnership of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, organizes the largest meeting on sleep each year. At this meeting, sleep experts, students, and educators discuss the latest in sleep disorders treatment and technology, as well as addressing the most pressing public health issues in sleep today.

The 16th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies will be held June 8-13, 2002, in Seattle, Washington. For more information, visit their website at http://www.apss.org.