Daytime driving simulation performance and sleepiness in obstructive sleep apnoea patients.
BACKGROUND
Sleepiness related car accidents are common in obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) patients. The objective measurements of sleepiness used in clinical setting quantify the tendency to fall asleep in quiet situations that are completely different from driving.


METHODS
We studied 30 OSAS patients with subjective (subjective sleepiness scales) and objective (multiple sleep latency test, MSLT) sleepiness measurements, associated with driving simulation test (DST), previously validated in young healthy subjects. The results of subjective and objective sleepiness tests were compared with simulated driving performance in order to evaluate the suitability of our DST for measuring alertness.


RESULTS
Subjective and objective sleepiness measurements were significantly correlated with driving performance on the simulator. The most significant correlates of sleepiness were the measures of the primary vehicle control task on the simulator: lane position variability and crash data. The comparison of DST and MSLT results suggested our driving simulated approach could be used to evaluate daytime sleepiness in the clinical setting of OSAS patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Our DST is a suitable objective tool to detect sleepiness in OSAS patients, and could be useful in the clinical setting of sleep medicine and research.
Pizza
Fabio
F
Unit of Neurology, S.Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy.
Contardi
Sara
S
Ferlisi
Monica
M
Mondini
Susanna
S
Cirignotta
Fabio
F
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000150:complications*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*