Clinical research
Clinical sleep research projects currently underway at the Centre include:
Driving impairment in obstructive sleep apnoea
(2006-2008, NHMRC Project Grant)
In addition to other projects conducted collaboratively with the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, we aim to conduct research to investigate impairment to driving caused by sleepiness in patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnoea.
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a common disorder with significant adverse cardiovascular and neurobehavioural consequences. Excessive sleepiness and defects in memory and psychomotor efficiency, sustained attention and concentration are well documented. The risk of a motor-vehicle accident (MVA) secondary to OSA is emerging as a significant public health concern with studies showing a 2-7 fold relative risk in untreated disease. Extrapolation from US data indicates that OSA may lead to over 50,000 accidents per year in Australia.
Increased public and medical awareness is leading to the identification of large numbers of OSA patients but the ability of road safety and health care professionals to assess MVA risk and advise on risk reduction is lagging seriously behind. For example, while data suggest that patients with severe OSA are at increased risk, little is known about MVA risk and driving performance in patients with mild-moderate disease. We know that healthy young adult drivers are prone to fall-asleep accidents after partial sleep deprivation and that low dose alcohol acts synergistically with sleep loss to markedly impair driving. The vulnerability of OSA patients to these additional insults is unknown yet they are common and likely to be important. Treatment of severe OSA improves driving performance and accident risk, but treatment response in certain functional domains (e.g. sleepiness, response time) is often incomplete raising the spectre of ongoing driving impairment.
Key researchers: Stuart Baulk, Cameron van den Heuvel.