The effects of sleep loss on young drivers’ performance: A systematic review

Abstract

Young drivers (18–24 years) are over-represented in sleep-related crashes (comprising one in five fatal crashes in developed countries) primarily due to decreased sleep opportunity, lower tolerance for sleep loss, and ongoing maturation of brain areas associated with driving-related decision making. Impaired driving performance is the proximal reason for most car crashes. There is still a limited body of evidence examining the effects of sleep loss on young drivers’ performance, with discrepancies in the methodologies used, and in the definition of outcomes. This study aimed to identify the direction and magnitude of the effects of sleep loss on young drivers’ performance, and to appraise the quality of current evidence via a systematic review. Based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta- Analyses (PRISMA) approach, 16 eligible studies were selected for review, and their findings summarised. Next, critical elements of these studies were identified, and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) guidelines augmented to rate those elements. Using those criteria, the quality of individual papers was calculated and the overall body of evidence for each driving outcome were assigned a quality ranking (from ‘very low’ to ‘high-quality’). Two metrics, the standard deviation of lateral position and number of line crossings, were commonly reported outcomes (although in an overall ‘low-quality’ body of evidence), with significant impairments after sleep loss identified in 50% of studies. While speed-related outcomes and crash events (also with very low- quality evidence) both increased under chronic sleep loss, discrepant findings were reported under conditions of acute total sleep deprivation. It is crucial to obtain more reliable data about the effects of sleep loss on young drivers’ performance by using higher quality experimental designs, adopting common protocols, and the use of consistent metrics and reporting of findings based on GRADE criteria and the PRISMA statement. Key words: Young drivers, sleep loss, driving performance, PRISMA, the GRADE, systematic review.

Later School Start Time: The Impact of Sleep on Academic Performance and Health in the Adolescent Population

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The Effects of Food and Drink Intake to Driving Performance: A Systematic Review

“…There are several studies that investigated the effects of alcohol and caffeine on driving performance, as reviewed in two separate articles [15][16][17]. However, currently, there is not much literature that discussed the influence of food or drink (besides alcohol and coffee) intake before/while driving on driving performance.…”

Caracterización de 1.967 casos de fallecimientos por accidentes de tránsito en Ecuador

“…Asimismo, el exceso de velocidad es la segunda causa por fallecimientos, en diferentes estudios se comprobó la relación entre velocidad y tasa de mortalidad [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] , especialmente en las vías rurales es dónde se circula a velocidades superiores a los 80 km/h y existe mayor concentración vehicular por la densidad poblacional 35 . No obstante, las eventos que originan los fallecimientos por AT no podemos atribuirlos a una sola causa, sino a la combinación multifactorial de variables 12 -36 .…”

“…Las causas que originan los AT son multifactoriales; incumplimiento de las normas de tránsito (exceso de velocidad) 4 , conducir bajo los efectos del alcohol o de cualquier sustancia psicoactiva o droga 5;7 , distracciones del conductor y peatón (uso de teléfonos móviles) 8 , no utilización de cascos en motociclistas 9 , sistemas de seguridad activa -pasiva del vehículo, experiencia en la conducción (conductores noveles), precariedad de la infraestructura vial (carreteras rurales o interurbanas) [10][11] ; aumentan el riesgo de accidente y el tiempo de atención hospitalaria tras el accidente y la gravedad de las lesiones en las víctimas [7][8][9][10][11][12] .…”