Struggling to Stay Awake While Driving a Sign of OSA?

Individuals who frequently used one or more coping strategies to stay awake while driving are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) vs those who don’t use such coping strategies, new research showed.

Investigators analyzed data on 119 participants with an Epworth Sleepiness Score (ESS) of > 10 who were being considered for a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) trial or who drove regularly.

A total of 105 healthy volunteers with an ESS score of < 10 with no symptoms of OSA were recruited as controls.

All participants completed questionnaires about how sleepiness affected their driving.

• Participants with OSA were more likely to feel sleepy while driving than controls (P = .0002).
• Participants with OSA were significantly more likely than controls to use at least one coping strategy “frequently” vs control participants (43.7% vs 10.5%; P ≤ .0001).
• Strategies included rolling down the window, drinking tea or coffee, or listening to music at a high volume.
• Participants with OSA were significantly more likely to have either reported an accident or have been involved in an accident irrespective of any insurance claims in the last year than controls (16.8% vs 2.85%; P ≤ .0013).

“Our research suggests that untreated OSA patients often use coping strategies that could be surrogate markers of sleepiness,” lead author Akshay Dwarakanath, MD, said in a press release. “Asking about these strategies in the clinic may help doctors identifying patients who are at risk of driving incidents and to advise appropriately.”