Yuichi Inoue
Tokyo Medical University, Japan
Title: Short sleep duration, sleep disorders and traffi c accidents
Biography
Biography: Yuichi Inoue
Abstract
Sleepiness is known as an important cause of traffi c accidents and previous studies have shown that the rate of individuals having excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) reached as much as 15% of general population.Th e main causes of EDS are (1) chronic sleep debt, (2) deterioration in the quality of sleep, (3) disruption of circadian rhythms and (4) primary hypersomnia. Among these, chronic sleep debt is the most frequent cause of EDS. However, although an accumulated lack of nocturnal sleep can result in serious defi cits in neurobehavioral function, the increase in subjective sleepiness under such conditions remains mild. Th at is, people with chronic lack of adequate sleep may underestimate their own sleepiness. Unwanted sleepiness may also occur due to the disruption of circadian rhythms in situations such as jet lag or shift work as well as primary circadian rhythm sleep disorders such as delayed sleep phase. People whose quality of sleep deteriorates as a result of sleep disorders that cause frequent interruption of nocturnal sleep such as obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder can develop secondary hypersomnia. In addition, while primary hypersomnia such as narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia is relatively rare, it can cause sleepiness-related traffi c accidents. In this meeting, I will discuss about the impact of the lack of sleep on the incidence of traffi c accidents as well as the individual eff ects of various sleep disorders on accidents. In addition, I will introduce recently established methods for detecting sleepiness and strategies for preventing sleepiness at the wheel.