The impact of aging on driving performance in patients with untreated obstructive sleep apnea.

Sep 6, 2021

Contributor: Jennifer M Cori,Christopher Gordon,Melinda L Jackson,Allison Collins,Rohit Philip,David Stevens,Aqsa Naqvi,Ruth Hosking,Clare Anderson,Maree Barnes,Mark E Howard,Andrew Vakulin

The impact of aging on driving performance in patients with untreated obstructive sleep apnea.

To determine the influence of age on sleepiness-related driving performance in individuals with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
Extended wakefulness protocol comparing simulated driving performance in younger and older individuals with OSA.
Fifty-two individuals with OSA (15 female) were median split into younger (≤55 years, n = 26) and older (>55 years, n = 26) groups.
Participants underwent polysomnography to derive sleep parameters and confirm OSA diagnosis. One-to-2 weeks following polysomnography, participants completed a 60-minute driving simulation 4 hours prior to their habitual bedtime. Participants remained awake to 3 hours post habitual bedtime before repeating the task.
Median age was 44.5 years (25th, 75th centiles = 37.0, 48.0) for the younger group and 64.5 years (60.0, 70.0) for the older group. When comparing the performance change between baseline and extended wakefulness, the younger patients had greater deterioration on all driving simulator parameters (crashes, standard deviation of lateral position, speed deviation and braking reaction time, all p < .05), compared to the older group. Linear regression found a 10-year age increase was associated with an a ∼30%-41% reduction in crash occurrence when accounting for covariates (p = .023). Age also predicted standard deviation of lateral position deviation, but not when sleep efficiency and self-reported sleepiness were included as covariates.
Older participants with OSA were less vulnerable than younger participants to sleepiness-related driving simulator impairment when assessed at night-time following extended wakefulness. Future work should assess naturalistic on-road driving to determine if this extends to a variety of challenging driving scenarios.

Copyright © 2021 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Author

admin

View all posts

About The Expert

Jennifer M Cori

Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia; Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia; School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: Jennifer.cori@austin.org.au.

Christopher Gordon

CIRUS Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, New South Wales, Australia; Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Melinda L Jackson

Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia; School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.

Allison Collins

Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia; Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia.

Rohit Philip

Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health/Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute Sleep Health, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

David Stevens

Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health/Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute Sleep Health, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

Aqsa Naqvi

Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia; Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia.

Ruth Hosking

Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia; Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia.

Clare Anderson

School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.

Maree Barnes

Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia; Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia.

Mark E Howard

Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia; Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia; School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia; Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.

Andrew Vakulin

CIRUS Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, New South Wales, Australia; Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health/Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute Sleep Health, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

References

PubMed