Sleep Apnea In Truck Drivers: Advisory Panels Recommend Screening For Condition In Obese Drivers

Obstructive sleep apnea, the disorder characterized by having pauses in breathing or shallow breathing while sleeping to create disrupted sleep, should be screened among obese commercial truck drivers with a body mass index of 35 or higher, concluded two government advisory panels recently.

For reference, Truckers News reported that a 6-foot-tall driver who weighs 258 pounds has a BMI of 35.

The proposal developed at the public meeting of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee and the Medical Review Board will be discussed again in the new year, where more detailed recommendations will be devised and finalized for presentation to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), according to Today's Trucking.

Today's Trucking reported that if the FMCSA decides to adopt the proposal, it would lead to guidance on what to do if a driver doesn't pass the screening test:

That guidance would include conditions for immediate disqualification of a driver, like falling asleep at the wheel or having fatigued-related crashes. It would also allow the driver to get a 60-day conditional card during evaluation and treatment for the condition.

Sleep apnea, which is more common in people who are overweight, can be dangerous while on the road because it leads to daytime drowsiness -- proving potentially fatal for both truck drivers and others on the road. There is even a sleep apnea page on the FMCSA website detailing the dangers of sleep apnea.

Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said that it's more likely that sleep-deprivation accidents occur among truckers more often because of just pure exhaustion than sleep apnea, Land Line, a professional truckers business magazine, reported. (The OOIDA is a trade association for professional drivers and independent owner-operators.)

"Does apnea result in very many crashes? Real accident analysis suggests it doesn't. It's going to be far more likely that somebody just didn't have the opportunity to get restorative sleep because that's not an easy thing for truck drivers to do," Land Line reported Spencer saying in the meeting. "Every day those who are on the road -- their struggle is to find someplace where they can stop and sleep. And where they won't get bothered, rousted and run out. Those things people need to do to maintain alertness we're discouraged from. Drivers don't set their own schedules; they work around everyone else's."

But Wanda Lindsay, of New Braunfels, Texas, knows the potential danger of sleep apnea firsthand. Lindsay and her husband's car was slammed from behind by an 18-wheeler truck last year while on the Interstate 30; the truck driver had previously been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Lindsay's husband did not survive the accident.

Lindsay shared her story at the recent meeting, explaining that she didn't realize just how big of a danger sleep apnea could be before the accident occurred last year.

"If you could have seen the scene that killed my husband ... or any of the other scenes that have been tied to sleep apnea and truck wrecks, it does look like a war zone," she said during the public comment period of the meeting. "It looks like a truck suicide bomber had gone through the area when John was killed."

"How many more families have to be torn apart before we do something?" she added.

To hear Lindsay's full comment, click here and register to watch the webcasts of the meeting. Her comments are in the seventh video titled "Public Comment Period," at the 19:24 mark.

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Comments

[Tom Hennessy]

08:40 AM on 12/28/2011

The medical profession believes sleep apnea is caused by being overweight. One factor in sleep apnea is increased red blood cell production. The medical profession believes the increased red blood cell production is a result OF the sleep apnea as opposed to being the CAUSE of the sleep apnea. I disagree. The increased red blood cell production is causing the sleep apnea. This is evidenced in THIS fact , when one gives a person testosterone , which increases red blood cells it has a side effect. It causes increased red blood cells / erythrocytosis AND sleep apnea. The person didn't have sleep apnea BEFORE the red blood cells built up / erythrocytosis but DID have sleep apnea AFTER their red blood cells built up.
"All patients treated with testosterone must undergo a careful follow-up to prevent the
development of the major side effects, such as sleep-apnea, erythrocytosis, cardiovascular diseases and the alterations of hepatic function and plasma lipid concentrations."

[Robert Rexroad]

05:37 AM on 12/26/2011

This government is out to destroy the trucking industry and everything else. When are people going to realize government regulation can not fix anything.

[Sixmark]

09:39 PM on 12/25/2011

If they are going to pass this law for truck drivers then they need to pass it for all drivers of any license qualification that share public roadways, somehow the government feels that when someone falls asleep behind the wheel of a car and kills a few people that it is acceptable.

The reason they are targeting only truck drivers is because when it comes down to the cold hard facts, federal and local governments generate a lot of revenue off from commercial truck drivers due to the exponentially larger fines for violations of any type. They constantly pass new laws in the name of "safety" yet the facts prove them wrong each time and the laws still get passed.

[Matthew Lee 1959]

06:59 PM on 12/20/2011

I am a truck driver and I can tell you from the statistics and experience lack of training is the biggest issue for truck drivers. Experienced drivers already use bluetooth or other hands free devices and either hang up or ignore the person they're talking to when road conditions dictate. Apnea is a problem with many drivers, but weight alone isn't the indicator that many want us to believe. Training and experience help a driver to predict when a dangerous situation is developing or likely to develop and take action to stay out of trouble.

No doubt there are drivers who fall asleep behind the wheel for various reasons and even a single death is a tragedy. However, making laws to punish the many for the crimes of the few is inherently unfair.

[The Bitpyr8]

12:23 PM on 12/19/2011

What is a truck driver supposed to do when their sleep apnea is untreatable? Will the government pay to retrain them and help them find another job when they lose their commercial DL?

I'm pretty sure that cell phones are a much bigger problem for truckers than sleep apnea ever was or will be. Of course it's harder to go after cell phone usage simply because they have better lobbyists than sleep apnea does.

[Tom Hennessy]

08:48 AM on 12/28/2011

"What is a truck driver supposed to do when their sleep apnea is untreatabl­e?"

I tried to get this to the trucking industry over a decade ago when the study came out that 75% of truckers had sleep apnea. I found it kind of dangerous a person who tended to fall asleep at the wheel was actually COMMERCIALLY driving. As to being "untreatable" it would have to be WHO and WHAT 'treatment' is being used ? The surgeons are going to have a field day because THAT is what the medical profession sees to be one of the options in treatment. They shave that fat old epiglottis down to a 'manageable level'. Anyone want to bet they DON'T treat the erythrocytosis / increased red blood cells ? THAT should be the target but doctors believe and hold to , erythrocytosis being secondary to / caused BY the sleep apnea as opposed to CAUSING the sleep apnea.

[Jguig]

10:18 AM on 12/19/2011

This is no doubt a problem. The question though, is just how far is the government going to go with regulating our lives.