Abstract

ROSALES MAYOR, Edmundo et al. Traffic accidents and his relationship with bus drivers’ sleepiness and fatigue. Rev Med Hered [online]. 2009, vol.20, n.2, pp.48-59. ISSN 1018-130X.

Objective: To determinate bus drivers’ fatigue, sleepiness and driving habits and to explore their relationship with traffic accidents at the bus station of Huancayo city, Peru. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study. We applied a pre-validated questionnaire and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Results: 100 bus drivers participated, all males. Mean sleep hours during working day was 6.8±2.6 hours. 47% had slept 6 hours or less the last 24 hours. 99% had answered that they sleeps in the bus. While driving, 32% had referred sleepiness, 17% had blinked and 4% had nodded off. 59% reported a traffic accident or a near accident while driving, most commonly between 01:00 and 04:00 hours; and 40% of them had referred that the sleepiness was the principal cause. 82% of bus drivers opined that the principal cause of traffic accidents in Peru was the sleepiness. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis using traffic accident as dependent variable; the adjusted ORs for sleepiness, blinking and nodding off while driving were: 3.56 (IC95% 1.6-7.9), 2.28 (IC95% 1.1-4.9) y 3.37 (IC95% 1.1-10.7), respectively. Conclusions: Sleepiness and fatigue while driving were frequents in this bus driver sample. The participants had bad sleep habits and also they suffered of acute and chronic sleep deprivation. These results support the hypothesis of the relationship between sleepiness and fatigue of bus driver and traffic accidents in the Peruvian roads.(Rev Med Hered 2009;20:48-59).

Keywords : sleepiness; bus driver; traffic accident; bus.

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