title: Underappreciation of sleep disorders as a cause of motor vehicle crashes.
abstract: Despite an increased risk of motor vehicle crashes (MVC) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), we hypothesized that OSA was not considered in drivers admitted to trauma centers after an injury-producing MVC. A retrospective study on drivers involved in MVCs admitted to a level 1 trauma center was performed, with crash cause determined and the frequency of sleep studies recorded. A questionnaire was also mailed to 240 trauma centers seeking information on evaluation of patients with unexplained causes for MVCs, including screening for OSA. There were 122 drivers of MVCs admitted to our hospital, 60/122 (49%) had unexplained crashes and no sleep studies were performed. There were 70 survey respondents (30% return rate), 35/70 (50%) centers routinely screened for syncope after unexplained MVC, however, no center screened for OSA. US trauma centers do not screen for sleep disorders despite the associated increased crash risk and the high prevalence of crashes that can not be explained by other causes. We believe this reflects a lack of awareness of sleep disorders by health care professionals caring for trauma victims and education is of utmost importance.
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania, Department of Medicine, Division of Trauma, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. fuchsb@mail.med.upenn.edu
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McMaster
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Smull
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Getsy
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Kozar
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000465:Algorithms; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D010414:Pennsylvania / Q000453:epidemiology; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D014193:Trauma Centers; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*