34
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Sleep Apnea, Sleep Debt and Daytime Sleepiness Are Independently Associated with Road Accidents. A Cross-Sectional Study on Truck Drivers

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Background

          Recent research has found evidence of an association between motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) or near miss accidents (NMAs), and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) or its main medical cause, Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). However, EDS can also be due to non-medical factors, such as sleep debt (SD), which is common among professional truck drivers. On the opposite side, rest breaks and naps are known to protect against accidents.

          Study Objectives

          To investigate the association of OSA, SD, EDS, rest breaks and naps, with the occurrence of MVAs and NMAs in a large sample of truck drivers.

          Methods

          949 male truck drivers took part in a cross-sectional medical examination and were asked to complete a questionnaire about sleep and waking habits, risk factors for OSA and EDS.

          Results

          MVAs and NMAs were reported by 34.8% and 9.2% of participants, respectively. MVAs were significantly predicted by OSA (OR = 2.32 CI95% = 1.68–3.20), SD (OR = 1.45 CI95% = 1.29–1.63), EDS (OR = 1.73 CI95% = 1.15–2.61) and prevented by naps (OR = 0.59 CI95% = 0.44–0.79) or rest breaks (OR = 0.63 CI95% = 0.45–0.89). NMAs were significantly predicted by OSA (OR = 2.39 CI95% = 1.47–3.87) and SD (OR = 1.49 CI95% = 1.27–1.76) and prevented by naps (OR = 0.52 CI95% = 0.32–0.85) or rest breaks (OR = 0.49 CI95% = 0.29–0.82).

          Conclusions

          When OSA, SD or EDS are present, the risk of MVAs or NMAs in truck drivers is severely increased. Taking a rest break or a nap appear to be protective against accidents.

          Related collections

          Most cited references44

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Reliability and factor analysis of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale.

          The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) is a self-administered eight-item questionnaire that has been proposed as a simple method for measuring daytime sleepiness in adults. This investigation was concerned with the reliability and internal consistency of the ESS. When 87 healthy medical students were tested and retested 5 months later, their paired ESS scores did not change significantly and were highly correlated (r = 0.82). By contrast, ESS scores that were initially high in 54 patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome returned to more normal levels, as expected, after 3-9 months' treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure. The questionnaire had a high level of internal consistency as measured by Cronbach's alpha (0.88). Factor analysis of item scores showed that the ESS had only one factor for 104 medical students and for 150 patients with various sleep disorders. The ESS is a simple and reliable method for measuring persistent daytime sleepiness in adults.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            A clinical sign to predict difficult tracheal intubation: a prospective study.

            It has been suggested that the size of the base of the tongue is an important factor determining the degree of difficulty of direct laryngoscopy. A relatively simple grading system which involves preoperative ability to visualize the faucial pillars, soft palate and base of uvula was designed as a means of predicting the degree of difficulty in laryngeal exposure. The system was evaluated in 210 patients. The degree of difficulty in visualizing these three structures was an accurate predictor of difficulty with direct laryngoscopy (p less than 0.001).
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Sleep related vehicle accidents.

              To assess the incidence, time of day, and driver morbidity associated with vehicle accidents where the most likely cause was the driver falling asleep at the wheel. Two surveys were undertaken, in southwest England and the midlands, by using police databases or on the spot interviews. Drivers involved in 679 sleep related vehicle accidents. Of all vehicle accidents to which the police were summoned, sleep related vehicle accidents comprised 16% on major roads in southwest England, and over 20% on midland motorways. During the 24 hour period there were three major peaks: at around 0200, 0600, and 1600. About half these drivers were men under 30 years; few such accidents involved women. Sleep related vehicle accidents are largely dependent on the time of day and account for a considerable proportion of vehicle accidents, especially those on motorways and other monotonous roads. As there are no norms for the United Kingdom on road use by age and sex for time of day with which to compare these data, we cannot determine what the hourly exposure v risk factors are for these subgroups. The findings are in close agreement with those from other countries.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Editor
                Journal
                PLoS One
                PLoS ONE
                plos
                plosone
                PLoS ONE
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )
                1932-6203
                30 November 2016
                2016
                : 11
                : 11
                : e0166262
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics and Maternal/Child Sciences (DINOGMI), University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
                [2 ]Department of Health Sciences, Postgraduate School in Occupational Medicine, University of Genoa and Occupational Medicine Unit, IRCCS AOU San Martino IST, Genoa, Italy
                [3 ]Department of Educational Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
                [4 ]Institute of Public Health, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
                University of Rome Tor Vergata, ITALY
                Author notes

                Competing Interests: Medical examinations were funded by CNH-Iveco. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Print expenses will be covered with University Funds D.1 (year 2015) of the corresponding author (NM).

                • Conceptualization: SG.

                • Data curation: OG.

                • Formal analysis: OG CC NM.

                • Funding acquisition: SG.

                • Investigation: SG GD FB SF AT PD.

                • Methodology: SG NM PD.

                • Project administration: SG.

                • Resources: SG.

                • Supervision: SG PD NM CC.

                • Validation: NM.

                • Visualization: CC.

                • Writing – original draft: NM OG.

                • Writing – review & editing: SG PD CC NM.

                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0988-7344
                Article
                PONE-D-16-30268
                10.1371/journal.pone.0166262
                5130193
                27902703
                c27d118b-f548-4f1a-9333-9ba6b88b0b96
                © 2016 Garbarino et al

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                : 28 July 2016
                : 25 October 2016
                Page count
                Figures: 3, Tables: 3, Pages: 12
                Funding
                Funded by: CNH Iveco Industrial Check-Stop Project
                Medical examinations were funded by the CNH-Iveco Industrial Corporation (Grant number 25171877) within the “CNH Iveco Industrial Check-Stop Project", an international project for road safety, supported by the European Union Road Safety Action and the Italian Ministry of Transport. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Print expenses will be covered with University funds from NM.
                Categories
                Research Article
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Physiology
                Physiological Processes
                Sleep
                Medicine and Health Sciences
                Physiology
                Physiological Processes
                Sleep
                Medicine and Health Sciences
                Pulmonology
                Apnea
                Sleep Apnea
                Medicine and Health Sciences
                Neurology
                Sleep Disorders
                Sleep Apnea
                Engineering and Technology
                Automotive Engineering
                Research and Analysis Methods
                Research Design
                Survey Research
                Questionnaires
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Behavior
                Habits
                Medicine and Health Sciences
                Neurology
                Sleep Disorders
                Engineering and Technology
                Civil Engineering
                Transportation Infrastructure
                Roads
                Engineering and Technology
                Transportation
                Transportation Infrastructure
                Roads
                Research and Analysis Methods
                Mathematical and Statistical Techniques
                Statistical Methods
                Regression Analysis
                Physical Sciences
                Mathematics
                Statistics (Mathematics)
                Statistical Methods
                Regression Analysis
                Custom metadata
                Data is available from the Dryad Digital Repository: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.j6fj6.

                Uncategorized
                Uncategorized

                Comments

                Comment on this article