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. 2002 Jun;56(3):333-4.
doi: 10.1046/j.1440-1819.2002.01004.x.

Falling asleep while driving and automobile accidents among patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome

Toshiaki Shiomi  1 , Aki Taniguchi Arita, Ryujiro Sasanabe, Katsuhisa Banno, Hiroki Yamakawa, Rika Hasegawa, Kaori Ozeki, Maki Okada, Asao Ito
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Free article

Falling asleep while driving and automobile accidents among patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome

Toshiaki Shiomi et al. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2002 Jun.
Free article

Abstract

Among 448 patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS), 40 patients (8.9%) had been involved in one or more automobile accidents during the preceding 5 years. The main cause of these accidents was falling asleep while driving. Excessive sleepiness during driving was associated with an Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) score of > 11 and/or an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of > 15. The automobile accident rate among 182 patients with severe OSAHS (AHI > 30) was significantly higher than the rate among 106 simple snorers (AHI < 5). Although four of the simple snorers were involved in automobile accidents, their ESS scores were all very high (15 or more).

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