Individuals with certain sleeping disorders may have a higher risk of crashes, near-crashes or unsafe maneuvering prior to such events, suggests a study.
“The results confirm that some sleep disorders generally increase driving risk as defined by our dependent measures,” wrote Shu-Yuan Liu, a doctoral student, and two colleagues at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg (Sleep. 2018 Apr 1. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsy023). “Furthermore, the results also provide some insights into how risk varies across specific types of sleep disorder and some moderating factors.”
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The study involved licensed drivers who drove at least 3 days a week, had an eligible vehicle in good working condition, and agreed to participate for 1 to 2 years. At the start and end of the study, participants filled out a questionnaire on any medical conditions they had or had been treated for in the past year, any medications they were taking, and any aids they were using for a medical condition.
Among the conditions they were able to select were narcolepsy, sleep apnea, insomnia, shift work sleep disorder, restless legs syndrome (RLS), periodic limb movement disorder, and migraine. All of these conditions have been linked in previous studies to a higher risk of vehicle collisions.
A total of 646 participants, 18.2% of the sample, had one of those disorders: 0.14% had narcolepsy, 7.4% had sleep apnea, 4.8% had insomnia, 3.4% had RLS, 0.37% had shift work sleep disorder, 0.23% had periodic limb movement disorder, and 8.4% had migraine.
Analysis of vehicle data found that female drivers with RLS and any drivers with insomnia had a higher risk of crashes or near-crashes (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.26 and 1.49, respectively, P less than .05 for both). Drivers with narcolepsy had 9 times greater odds of being involved in a crash or near-crash, but the finding was not statistically significant (AOR = 10.24, P less than .1).