The relationship between sleep quality and road traffic crashes of urban drivers in Hamadan, Iran

Background: sleep quality is one of the main human factors related to urban road trafficcrashes. this study aimed at determining the relationship between sleep quality and road trafficcrashes in urban drivers.methods: this correlational study was conducted in hamadan, a city located in the western partof iran. the study samples consisted of 309 hamadan drivers (i.e., 103 with road traffic crashes(rtcs) and 206 without rtcs), who were referred to police centers to change or renew theirdriving licenses. the data collection tool was a two-part questionnaire including demographicinformation and the pittsburgh sleep quality index (psqi). the questionnaire was filled out in aself-administered manner. statistical analysis was done using the spss-16 software and applyinglogistic regression, fisher’s exact test, and chi-square test.results: the comparison of sleep quality scores between two groups, using the adjusted logisticregression test, showed a statistically significant difference between them (p = 0.019). this meansthat the sleep quality of drivers without rtcs was 1.8 times better than drivers with rtcs(or=1.8; 95% ci, 1.1 - 3.07).conclusions: there was a significant association between poor sleep quality and the occurrenceof rtcs in urban drivers. as a result, it is recommended paying more attention to the sleepquality of urban drivers to prevent and control rtcs.