Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome in a Railroad Controller Worker

Abstract

Sleep Apnea Syndrome (SAS) constitutes a healthcare issue of major importance at international level with a prevalence of 5% in the active population. Consequentially to the induced co-morbidities, the mortality reaches as high as 39% at eight years time lapse from the initial diagnostic. Seldom undiagnosed, the severity spectrum of SAS, in the absence of therapy, only continues to amplify. Here below, we are presenting the case of a 49 years old patient, railroad controller worker, non-smoker and occasionally alcohol user, who was hospitalized in our Clinic for Occupational Medicine. During last year, the patient was accusing excessive daytime somnolence, breath arrests during sleep, intense snoring, morning headaches, morning oral dryness, pin point chest pain, nocturia (4-5 nocturnal urination), concentration difficulties and an overall reduced work capacity. The presumptive diagnostic of Obstructive Sleep Apnea is being considered based on the correlation between the clinical presentation and the Epworth, Stanford and Berlin questionnaire results. The key diagnostic element was the polygraph recording over an 8 hours sleep period. Positive Diagnosis: Obstructive Sleep Apnea severe form. Management and recommendations: (1) Behavioral therapy (weight loss) and (2) CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) therapy which was instituted immediately after the positive diagnosis was made. As a consequence, the respiratory symptoms, the frequent episodes of daytime snoozing and the concentration difficulties at work place diminished considerably.

Sick building syndrome and its impacts on health, well-being and productivity: A systematic literature review

“…114 SBS is still a poorly understood phenomenon, mainly because people can react differently to the same environment and vary over days. 115 Moreover, the existence of predictors for the onset of symptoms, such as genetic hypersensitivity to the environment (atopy), gender, sleep problems, work schedule, 116 smoking, seasons 117 and heredity, 118 amongst others that could have an effect on SBS. People are subject to at least one symptom, which vary by setting and seasonality, showing the need to determine a pattern of complaints or symptoms for conducting analysis and prioritizing action.…”

“…114 SBS is still a poorly understood phenomenon, mainly because people can react differently to the same environment and vary over days. 115 Moreover, the existence of predictors for the onset of symptoms, such as genetic hypersensitivity to the environment (atopy), gender, sleep problems, work schedule, 116 smoking, seasons 117 and 18 Courthouse buildings Fatigue, headache, drowsiness, eye irritation, nasal irritation, dry skin and sore throat Zainal et al, 21 Molina, Aiache and Caillaud, 34 Thrasher et al, 35 Chang et al, 36 Hedge et al, 37 Phoon et al, 38 Menzies et al, 39 Lynch and Kipen, 40 Wargocki et al, 41 Reynolds et al, 42 Wong and Huang, 43 Buchanan et al, 44 Gou and Lau, 45 Jung et al, 46 Rahman, Putra and Nagapan, 47 Qiu Mei and Othuman Mydin, 48 Shin, Jeong and Park, 49 Fahad Alomirah and Moda, 50 Gawande et al, 51 Sun et al, 52 Hamdi and Ahmad., 53 36 Seltzer, 61 Walsh and Solomon, 62 Wyon, 63 Redlich, Sparer and Cullen 19 Brownson, 65 Dascalaki et al, 66 Loupa, Fotopoulou and Tsagarakis, 67 Akova et al, 68 Eijkelenboom, Kim and Bluyssen, 69 Sayan and Dulger, 70 17 Farrag, Abou El-Ela and Ezzeldin, 20 Abdel-Hamid et al, 75 Al-Hubail and Al-Temeemi,…”

Prevalence of Obstructive sleep apnea in a sample of Egyptian railway drivers

“…Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is the most common type of sleep apnea worldwide, populational studies estimating its prevalence at 3-7% in the adult male population and respectively 2-5% in the female population for the 30-60 years age bracket [1,2] Drivers having OSAS have excessive daytime sleepiness and inability to concentrate, therefore they had increased risk of road accidents due to falling asleep at the wheel which may danger or have direct influence over people's live [3]. The relationship between OSAS and road traffic accident (RTA) has become increasingly evident during the past two decades, with the increase in RTA risk with respect to a reference population varying between two and seven-fold in different reports [4,5].…”