Impact of inadequate sleep on unintentional injuries in adolescents.

Excessive daytime sleepiness is a growing societal problem in adolescents. Empirical evidence demonstrates that adolescents experience significant sleepiness as a result of inadequate or disrupted sleep. Although the functional impairment caused by sleepiness in the pediatric population is less studied, children and adolescents do experience changes in behavior and a decline in performance as seen in the adult population. The end result is functional impairment in adolescents, which then places them at higher risk for unintentional injury.