Showing posts with label truckers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label truckers. Show all posts
Monday, February 4, 2013
Split sleep schedule better than consolidated daytime sleep in truck drivers
This article discusses a study about sleep times in truck drivers. Drivers that work at night usually sleep during the day. This study showed that splitting up sleep into two 5 hour blocks was better than trying to get sleep all in one block during the day.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Truck Drivers and Online Assessment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
A study done in the June edition of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine describes data from an online self-assessment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) done by truck drivers anonymously. Some estimates say that OSA occurs in 1 in 4 commercial drivers. I blogged about this in May.
This study was a web-based survey of the Berlin Questionnaire, a valid screening tool used to assess risk of OSA. The Berlin has three sections - sleepiness, snoring, and body-mass index (BMI) and high blood pressure (HTN). If the Berlin was positive (indicating elevated risk of OSA), the driver was provided a link to a local sleep center for further evaluation.
The results of the survey showed that ~56% of respondents were positive on the Berlin and that 78% were positive on the BMI / HTN section. Seventy percent were obese, defined as a BMI >30. Witnessed apneas were reported in 21% of responders and almost 21% admitted to falling asleep while driving!
The results stress the importance of testing and treating commercial drivers. How to identify those drivers at risk is still being debated. Hopefully we will have some guidelines from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration at the end of this summer.
This study was a web-based survey of the Berlin Questionnaire, a valid screening tool used to assess risk of OSA. The Berlin has three sections - sleepiness, snoring, and body-mass index (BMI) and high blood pressure (HTN). If the Berlin was positive (indicating elevated risk of OSA), the driver was provided a link to a local sleep center for further evaluation.
The results of the survey showed that ~56% of respondents were positive on the Berlin and that 78% were positive on the BMI / HTN section. Seventy percent were obese, defined as a BMI >30. Witnessed apneas were reported in 21% of responders and almost 21% admitted to falling asleep while driving!
The results stress the importance of testing and treating commercial drivers. How to identify those drivers at risk is still being debated. Hopefully we will have some guidelines from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration at the end of this summer.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Truckers, and the FMCSA
There is an effort by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to comprehensively revise the agency's rules aimed at making it harder for unfit drivers to either get medical clearance or evade detection. One area the agency is targeting is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). During this upcoming August, the FMCSA will ask the medical review board (MRB), made up of a panel of physician advisors, on how it should proceed.
Since 2008, the MRB has supported stricter regulatory standards for OSA, by stating that all drives should be screened for OSA. The MRB recommended that a driver with a body-mass index (BMI) of 30 or more should not be allowed certification until that driver has had a sleep study. The MRB said that a diagnosis of OSA should not necessarily bar a driver from certification, but that certification should be conditioned on the OSA severity, its impact on driver's sleepiness, and whether the driver is getting treatment. It also recommended criteria for denying medical certification, including a crash associated with falling asleep at the wheel and failing to comply with prescribed OSA treatment.
Currently, there is confusion in the medical community about OSA because the MRB made the above recommendations in 2008 but the FMCSA has not made them into rules yet. Some examiners have adopted the MRB recommendations as requirements, while others are awaiting for more guidance from the FMCSA. Perhaps we will get that this summer.
Since 2008, the MRB has supported stricter regulatory standards for OSA, by stating that all drives should be screened for OSA. The MRB recommended that a driver with a body-mass index (BMI) of 30 or more should not be allowed certification until that driver has had a sleep study. The MRB said that a diagnosis of OSA should not necessarily bar a driver from certification, but that certification should be conditioned on the OSA severity, its impact on driver's sleepiness, and whether the driver is getting treatment. It also recommended criteria for denying medical certification, including a crash associated with falling asleep at the wheel and failing to comply with prescribed OSA treatment.
Currently, there is confusion in the medical community about OSA because the MRB made the above recommendations in 2008 but the FMCSA has not made them into rules yet. Some examiners have adopted the MRB recommendations as requirements, while others are awaiting for more guidance from the FMCSA. Perhaps we will get that this summer.
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