13% of sleep apnea sufferers have experienced car accidents

25 June, 2004
 

TOKYO — About 13% of people diagnosed with serious sleep apnea have experienced some form of car accident while dozing off at the wheel, according to a study by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

The study, led by Toshiaki Shiomi, director of the Sleep Disorders Center of the Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, studied responses from about 1,500 outpatients of the center who had a driver's license and complained of sleep-related problems during a six-year period through the end of 2003.