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+--- Thread: [News] Commercial Drivers Understate OSA Symptoms for Fear of Losing Their License (/Thread-News-Commercial-Drivers-Understate-OSA-Symptoms-for-Fear-of-Losing-Their-License)
Commercial Drivers Understate OSA Symptoms for Fear of Losing Their License - ApneaNews - 09-25-2012
Commercial Drivers Understate OSA Symptoms for Fear of Losing Their License
People who drive commercial vehicles, such as buses, taxis, trucks, and airplanes, could be incorrectly reporting their symptoms of sleep apnea due to their fears of endangering their employment, according to a new study.
The research was presented on September 1, 2012 at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Vienna.
Researchers examined 37 commercial vehicle drivers with sleep apnea and compared them with a control group of 74 patients. Both groups had similar characteristics of age, body mass index (BMI), and similar numbers of disturbances suffered on average during the night. Both groups also underwent treatment using CPAP. Levels of sleepiness were then analyzed using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale.
At the start of the study, commercial drivers reported an average score of 8.1 on the sleepiness scale, compared with an average of 11.0 reported by noncommercial drivers, despite a similar number of disturbances at night between the two groups. The difference was also seen after 6 months of treatment using CPAP therapy with the drivers reporting an average sleepiness score of 4.8 and nondrivers reporting an average of 7.7.
The results also showed that drivers received less treatment (only receiving CPAP for an average of 75% of days, compared with 83%) and also had more unscheduled visits to the clinic, which suggests they were struggling with their symptoms.
The authors speculate that the lower scores reported by the commercial drivers could be due to drivers underscoring their sleepiness levels for fear of losing their license permissions.
Lead author Dr Werner Strobel from University Hospital, Switzerland, said: "Our study suggests that commercial drivers are playing down their levels of sleepiness for fear of losing their jobs. Although this is very difficult to prove, both the group of drivers and the group of nondrivers began the study with a similar number of disturbances during the night. You would therefore expect their reports of sleepiness to be similar to begin with; however. the drivers estimated their levels of sleepiness as lower than the nondrivers. This pattern continued throughout the course of the study, with drivers reporting lower symptoms, yet receiving less treatment and making more unscheduled visits to the clinic.
"We can assume from these results that commercial drivers with sleep apnea symptoms could be under-reporting their sleepiness in order to protect their job. These results should be taken into account by healthcare professionals who are treating this group of people."
fair use from:
http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/sleep_report/2012-09-12_03.asp
RE: Commercial Drivers Understate OSA Symptoms for Fear of Losing Their License - archangle - 09-25-2012
Well, duhhh....
Do you think maybe they under report the degree to which they drink alcohol before reporting to work as well?
Or maybe the amount of illegal drugs they use?
Cell phone use while driving?
Texting while driving?
Vision problems?
RE: Commercial Drivers Understate OSA Symptoms for Fear of Losing Their License - Moriarty - 09-26-2012
All I can say is - Well duh!...
As long as someone is likely to loose their livelihood for reporting what seems to them to be a minor medical issue of course they will minimise their risk...
I think it is important that the safety authorities in various countries should publicise OSA and the wider range of symptoms and the benefits of treatment is a way that the public at large can be aware of the dangers and perhaps even bbring their own pressure to bear on those they suspect.