A logistic regression analysis for locomotive engineer self report sleep quality and on-duty alertness

Railroad crews sometimes have had to work work/rest random schedules. Such schedules impact the ability of the locomotive engineer to gain enough sleep. Humans normally have regular circadian rhythms. These rhythms require about the normal 24-hour cycle. The random work schedule can seriously affect the ability of train crew to have enough sleep.; This research intended to explore matters of how the random work scheduling affects the locomotive engineers' on-duty alertness and their sleep quality.; The main contribution of this research was to develop an index which captured the day by day randomness of the 24 hour work/rest circadian patterns of locomotive engineers. The index is called Calculated Cumulative Circadian Randomness (TCR). During the creation of TCR, a multivariate statistical analysis method was employed. The TCR was used in an attempt to quantitatively measure locomotive engineer's cumulative circadian randomness.; After a multiple logistic regression was used to study the effects of circadian randomness on the locomotive engineers' on-duty alertness and sleep quality. It indicate that, (1) The randomness of the work schedule affected the locomotive engineer's on-duty alertness. (a) TCR is a significant predictor for locomotive engineers' on-duty alertness. (b) The estimated probability of having on-duty alertness problems goes up as TCR increases. (2) The randomness of the work schedule also affected the locomotive engineer's sleep quality (ability to "stay asleep"). (a) TCR is a significant predictor for locomotive engineers' ability to "stay asleep". (b) The estimated probability of having a "stay asleep" problem goes up as TCR increases.