Georgia Injury Law Blog
A new study confirms a direct link between sleep apnea and an increased risk of being involved in car accidents. Of course, car accidents are a major cause of catastrophic personal injuries.
The study was published recently in the journal Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. Sleep apnea is a condition in which a person’s respiratory airways are blocked several times during the night. The muscles of the throat can become relaxed while the person is asleep, blocking the flow of oxygen into the lungs. This can cause the person to wake up over and over again, and can contribute to decreased and disturbed sleep. Persons who suffer from sleep apnea may find themselves very fatigued and drowsy the next day because of the interrupted sleep the previous night.
In the new study, researchers focused on more than 2.8 million people who suffered from sleep apnea. The study sample included at least 700,000 persons who used CPAP machines to cope with their symptoms and another 12,000 people who had undergone surgery to correct their symptoms. The researchers found in their analysis that out of the persons who had surgery to correct their sleep apnea, approximately 3% ended up being involved in a car crash. Among the persons who used CPAP machines, at least 5% were involved in auto accidents. Approximately, 6% of the persons who took no treatment at all for their sleep apnea were involved in car accidents. Being untreated for sleep apnea was linked to a higher chance of being involved in a car accident with people who underwent no treatment for sleep apnea having a 21% higher risk of being involved in car accidents.