George Charles F P
University of Western Ontario, London Health Sciences Centre, South Street Hospital, London, ON, Canada N6A 4G5.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2007 Nov 15;176(10):954-6. doi: 10.1164/rccm.200605-629PP. Epub 2007 Sep 6.
Sleep apnea causes impairment in performance and is associated with an increased risk of motor vehicle crashes compared with the general population of drivers. Despite this increased risk, the actual number of accidents is still quite low, although the implications are significant in commercial vehicle drivers. It is difficult for physicians to assess risk and ability to drive in many patients with sleep apnea, yet physicians are often mandated to make these assessments with obvious implications for patients. Because many patients may never have a crash, it is not practical or feasible to restrict all untreated patients from driving, unless they operate commercial vehicles. Thresholds of disease severity that prompt driving restriction need to be established for sleep apnea much like they have been for alcohol. Until more data emerge, continued educational efforts about sleep apnea are needed to convince government and insurance organizations to provide appropriate resources for diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea, because apnea risk is minimized with successful apnea treatment.
与普通驾驶员群体相比，睡眠呼吸暂停会导致身体机能受损，并与机动车碰撞事故风险增加有关。尽管存在这种风险增加的情况，但实际事故数量仍然相当低，不过对商用车驾驶员而言，其影响却很重大。在许多患有睡眠呼吸暂停的患者中，医生很难评估其驾驶风险和驾驶能力，但医生往往又必须进行这些评估，这显然会对患者产生影响。由于许多患者可能从未发生过碰撞事故，除非他们驾驶商用车，否则限制所有未经治疗的患者驾驶既不实际也不可行。需要像对酒精那样，为睡眠呼吸暂停确定促使限制驾驶的疾病严重程度阈值。在有更多数据出现之前，需要持续开展关于睡眠呼吸暂停的教育工作，以说服政府和保险机构为睡眠呼吸暂停的诊断和治疗提供适当资源，因为成功治疗呼吸暂停可将呼吸暂停风险降至最低。
