STUDY OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the association between driving safety and seven sleep disorders amongst 3,541 participants of the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) naturalistic driving study.
METHODS: SHRP 2 collected naturalistic driving data from participants between 16 to 98 years old by instrumenting participants' vehicles. The analyses used logistic regression to determine the likelihood of crash/near-crash involvement, Poisson log-linear regression to assess crash/near-crash rate, and ordinal logistic regression to assess driver maneuver appropriateness and crash/near-crash severity. These analyses did not account for any medical treatments for the sleep disorders.
RESULTS: Females with restless legs syndrome/Willis-Ekbom disease (RLS/WED), drivers with insomnia or nacrolepsy are associated with significantly higher risk of crash/near-crash. Drivers with shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) are assoicated with significantly increased crash/near-crash rate. Females with RLS/WED or sleep apnea and drivers with SWSD are associated with less safe driver maneuver and drivers with periodic limb movement disorder are assoicated with more severe events. The four analyses provide no evidence of safety decrements associated with migraine.
CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first examination on the association between seven sleep disorders and different measures of driving risk using large-scale naturalistic driving study data. The results corroborate much of the existing simulator and epidemiological research related to sleep disorder patients and their driving safety, but add ecological validity to those findings. These results contribute to the empirical basis for medical professionals, policy makers and employers in making decisions to aid individuals with sleep disorders in balancing safety and personal mobility.