Even though Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) is one of the main causes of daytime sleepiness with high subsequent risk for causing vehicle accidents, its evaluation is not usually included among the criteria used for the certification of job fitness among professional drivers. In order to assess the feasibility of a screening method that allows the occupational physician to identify the subjects at risk for OSAS which should undergo second level tests (cardiorespiratory monitoring), we recorded and subsequently processed appropriate subjective and objective indicators among 455 professional drivers employed in private transportation companies. Only 17 subjects (47%) out of 36 tested positive underwent cardiorespiratory monitoring (due to technical and organizational difficulties and to the poor compliance of workers). OSAS was confirmed in 15 subjects out of 17 showing an excellent positive predictive value of the screening. Risk management for OSAS is currently unavoidable yet not formally provided by law. Our results show the possibility of completing the health surveillance program with feasible and valuable screening tests. Difficulties (hardly compliant with a timely certification of the job fitness) arise instead as far as second level confirmatory procedures are involved.
Applicazione di indicatori anamnestici ed obiettivi per la diagnosi di OSAS in una coorte di lavoratori dell'auto-trasporto privato: risultati di un anno di sorveglianza sanitaria
ROMANO, Canzio;MANASSERO, Fulvio
2012-01-01
Abstract
Even though Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) is one of the main causes of daytime sleepiness with high subsequent risk for causing vehicle accidents, its evaluation is not usually included among the criteria used for the certification of job fitness among professional drivers. In order to assess the feasibility of a screening method that allows the occupational physician to identify the subjects at risk for OSAS which should undergo second level tests (cardiorespiratory monitoring), we recorded and subsequently processed appropriate subjective and objective indicators among 455 professional drivers employed in private transportation companies. Only 17 subjects (47%) out of 36 tested positive underwent cardiorespiratory monitoring (due to technical and organizational difficulties and to the poor compliance of workers). OSAS was confirmed in 15 subjects out of 17 showing an excellent positive predictive value of the screening. Risk management for OSAS is currently unavoidable yet not formally provided by law. Our results show the possibility of completing the health surveillance program with feasible and valuable screening tests. Difficulties (hardly compliant with a timely certification of the job fitness) arise instead as far as second level confirmatory procedures are involved.
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