Citation

Orth M, Rasche K, Malin JP, Schultze-Werninghaus G, Kotterba S. Biomed. Tech. 2003; 48(3): 55-61.

Vernacular Title

Unfalle durch Mudigkeit--Pradiktionsmoglichkeit durch neurophysio-/psychologische

Affiliation

Berufsgenossenschaftliche Kliniken Bergmannsheil Klinikum, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik, Abteilung für Pneumologie, Allergologie und Schlafmedizin, Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, 44789 Bochum. maritta.orth@ruhr-uni-bochum.de

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Walter de Gruyter)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12701335

Abstract

Daytime sleepiness is a leading symptom of various diseases, and is an important cause of accidents at the workplace and on the road. For the evaluation of accident frequency, the medical history, neurophysiological and neuropsychological tests, and driving simulator performance are applied. The present paper describes these different methods, and assesses their value in predicting accidents. In the last resort, no single test suffices to evaluate the accident risk of patients suffering from daytime sleepiness--rather, a combination of the methods described is needed, in particular when an expert opinion on a patient's ability to drive is required. To date, no controlled studies have been done to compare the predictive value of the methods considered herein. Our results suggest that the nearness of driving simulation to reality makes it a suitable additional test method, in particular for the monitoring of results under treatment.