Excessive daytime sleepiness and associations with sleep-related motor vehicle accidents: results from a nationwide surv
- PDF / 266,053 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 85 Downloads / 190 Views
EPIDEMIOLOGY • ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Excessive daytime sleepiness and associations with sleep-related motor vehicle accidents: results from a nationwide survey Saad Mohammed AlShareef 1 Received: 7 August 2020 / Revised: 18 November 2020 / Accepted: 20 November 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Objective/background Insufficient sleep can have fatal consequences, and up to 30% of motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are related to driving when drowsy. The objective of this study was to investigate how sleep quality and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) affect falling asleep while driving and sleep-related MVAs/near-misses. Participants/methods A population-wide sample of Saudi adults was surveyed. The questionnaire gathered data on sleep quality, EDS (Epworth Sleepiness Scale), and episodes of falling asleep while driving and sleep-related MVAs/near-misses in the previous year. Univariable and multivariable analyses were used to assess associations. Results A total of 19% (902/3802) and 10% (474/4229) of respondents had fallen asleep while driving or had a sleep-related MVA/near-miss in the preceding year, respectively. Being male, married, having a shorter sleep duration, being an office worker, having poor subjective sleep quality, and having moderate or severe EDS were associated with an increased risk of having fallen asleep while driving in the previous year. Younger age, male gender, having worse subjective sleep quality [OR 2.11 (95% CI 1.36–3.29); p < 0.0001 for “very bad” sleep quality], and having moderate or severe EDS [ESS ≥ 13; OR 1.90 (95% CI 1.38– 2.60); p < 0.0001 and OR 2.39 (95% CI 1.56–3.67); p < 0.0001, respectively] were associated with having had/nearly had an accident due to being tired or falling asleep while driving in the previous year. Conclusions Sleepy driving and sleep-related accidents/near-misses are common in Saudi Arabia, and sleep quality and EDS contribute to the burden of MVAs. Further efforts are required to quantify the contribution of sleepiness to MVAs to develop and prioritize interventions to prevent MVA-related injuries and death. Keywords Epworth sleepiness scale . Excessive daytime sleepiness . Motor vehicle accidents . Sleep hygiene
Introduction Attaining good quality sleep is essential for mental and physical well-being [1]. It is also essential for maintaining the attention, recall, reaction times, hand-eye coordination, and vigilance required to safely execute complex tasks such as driving. Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) can be defined as the subjective or objective inclination to sleep when intending to be awake [2], and it affects up to a third of individuals depending on its definition and how it is measured [3].
* Saad Mohammed AlShareef [email protected] 1
Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), PO Box 7544, Riyadh 13317-4233, Saudi Arabia
Driving while feeling sleepy or fatigued is a major cause of motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) [4–7], with up to a third of fatal accidents thought to
Data Loading...
