Psychomotor Vigilance Testing of Professional Drivers in the Occupational Health Clinic: a Potential Objective Screen for Daytime Sleepiness

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Occup Environ Med
• Personal Author:
  Zhang, Chunbai ; Varvarigou, Vasileia ; Parks, Philip D. ; Gautam, Shiva ; Bueno, Antonio Vela ; Malhotra, Atul ; Kales, Stefanos N.
• Description:
  Objective
  
  Psychomotor vigilance testing (PVT) rapidly assesses attention, reaction time (RT) and abnormal vigilance. Thus, PVT may be an adjunct to screening drivers for high risk obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)/excess daytime sleepiness (EDS).
  
  Methods
  
  Commercial drivers and emergency responders undergoing occupational examinations took a 10-minute PVT and were instructed to achieve their fastest possible RTs. Participants with maximum RT >5 seconds or ≥2 “super lapses” (RT ≥1000ms) were categorized as “microsleepers”.
  
  Results
  
  Among 193 male participants, the 15 microsleepers (8%) were significantly more obese, but not different on age or Epworth Sleepiness Score. Time of day had no effect on RT.
  
  Conclusion
  
  PVT is suitable to occupational clinics and can identify otherwise unrecognized, impaired vigilance. Further studies must validate the PVT abnormalities most predictive of OSA/EDS and vehicular crashes, compared to adiposity measures alone.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Arousal Attention Automobile Driving Disorders Of Excessive Somnolence Female Humans Male Mass Screening Middle Aged Obesity Occupational Medicine Physical Examination Psychomotor Performance Reaction Time Sleep Apnea, Obstructive

  More +
• Source:
  J Occup Environ Med. 54(3):296-302.
• Pubmed ID:
  21826029
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC3742032
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  K24 HL093218/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States ; P01 HL095491/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States ; R01 HL085188/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States ; R01 HL090897/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States ; T42 OH 008416-03/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States
• Volume:
  54
• Issue:
  3
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:2f847c4020b676bcc0e197f19aed1173b7f4acc0873e448d9dc702ec7f4a80d0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/33613/cdc_33613_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 516.97 KB ]