In a recent article in Sleep Review it appears as though sleep apnea patients are more likely to have severe car crashes, oftentimes involving injury.
The study compared 800 people with sleep apnea with 800 people that had normal nighttime breathing. Amazingly, patients with even with mild sleep apnea were twice as likely to have a car crash, and three to five times as likely to have a serious crash involving personal injury.
The sleep apnea group had a total of 250 crashes over 3 years, compared with 123 crashes in the group without sleep apnea.
Another interesting fact was that men and women who had apnea were having crashes at the same rate, while in the general population we find that men usually have more car crashes than women. Thus it can be inferred that sleep apnea appears to be an equal opportunity disorder, at least in terms of serious car crashes.
This study was one of the first to look at real sleep studies and motor vehicle accidents, and clearly shows the need to be aware of undiagnosed apnea. The evidence continues to mount that sleep apnea, when undiagnosed, can be fatal.
Insightful and informative post, well all we know that women are very careful then it come to driving now after this study, which revealing sleep apnea is not going spare them.
Posted by: Sleep Disorders Guide | June 29, 2007 at 02:37 AM