2006/07 Medical Research - Sleep Apnoea Driver Impact
Dr. Stuart Baulk
Research Fellow, Centre flor Sleep Research University of South Australia
Honorary Affiliate Research Fellow, Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, Repatriation General Hospital
Project
Does Obstructive Sleep Apnoea affect everyday driving?
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) affects 3-5% of Australian adults, and causes excessive daytime sleepiness. While this is known to lead to increased risk of fall-asleep accidents, it is unclear how executive function and metropolitan driving are affected. The studying being undertaken by Dr Baulk and his team will investigate these issues in an on-road study.
This study is the first on-road study of driving impairment in relation to (OSA). It is expected that the findings will add important new knowledge on how OSA affects everyday driving, and will begin to address executive function, attention, impulsivity and visuo-spatial control are affected. Physicians, licensing authorities and patients will benefit from the findings of this important work. In addition, adults aged 30-70 years will benefit from this work, as physicians learn more on the neurocognitive effects of OSA and the relevant tools to potentially predict accident risk.
The expectation is that the study should be completed by March/April 2008.