This study is the first examination on the association between seven types of sleep disorder and driving risk using large-scale naturalistic driving study data involving more than 3,400 participants. Regression analyses revealed that females with restless leg syndrome or sleep apnea and drivers with insomnia, shift work sleep disorder, or periodic limb movement disorder are associated with significantly higher driving risk than other drivers without those conditons. Furthermore, despite a small number of observations, there is a strong indication of increased risk for narcoleptic drivers. The findings confirmed results from simulator and epidemiological studies that the driving risk increases amongst people with certain types of sleep disorders. However, this study did not yield evidence in naturalistic driving settings to confirm significantly increased driving risk associated with migraine in prior research. The inconsistency may be an indication that the significant decline in cognitive performance among drivers with sleep disorders observed in laboratory settings may not nessarily translate to an increase in actual driving risk. Further research is necessary to define how to incentivize drivers with specific sleep disorders to balance road safety and personal mobility. / Master of Science / This study is the first examination on the association between seven types of sleep disorder and driving risk using large-scale naturalistic driving study data involving more than 3,400 participants. The study identified seven sleep disorders - narcolepsy, sleep apnea, insomnia, shift work sleep disorder, restless legs syndrome, periodic limb movement disorder, and migraine among the participants and revealed that that females with restless leg syndrome or sleep apnea and drivers with insomnia, shift work sleep disorder, or periodic limb movement disorder are associated with significantly higher driving risk than other drivers without those conditons. Furthermore, despite a small number of observations, there is a strong indication of increased risk for narcoleptic drivers. The findings confirmed most results from previous simulator and epidemiological studies that the driving risk increased amongst people with certain types of sleep disorders except for those with migraines – there is no evidence showing increased driving risk associated with drivers with migraine. The inconsistency may be an indication that the significant decline in cognitive performance among drivers with sleep disorders observed in laboratory settings may not nessarily translate to an increase in actual driving risk. The public and private sectors can use the results to target their investments in supporting high risk individuals. And physicians now have more representative data on the level of risk in real world driving and thus more able to practice evidence-based medicine in consulting their patients with sleep disorders regarding driving safety and personal mobility.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78212 |
| Date | 15 June 2017 |
| Creators | Liu, Shuyuan |
| Contributors | Industrial and Systems Engineering, Lau, Nathan, Perez, Miguel A., Gabbard, Joseph L. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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