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National News
Sleep Disturbance Study requests online survey respondents.
Yasmine Umar, a doctoral student at The Australian National University, is conducting an online study examining sleep disturbances and how they are impacted by eating habits, psychological stress, exercise and lifestyle factors.
If you are interested in participating, please click thru - Sleep Disturbance Study
Last Updated: 6th Aug 2015
The format of the SDA Newsletter has changeD.
DUE to the costs of posting the newsletter Has beEN printed on A4, folded in 3 and sent in a Business sized enveloPE.
Please advise comments on the new format.
For the latest information on truck drivers suffering OSA read the SMH article.
Nathan Zanuso.
About half of the commercial long-haul truck drivers on Australia's roads suffer from sleep apnoea that could put them at risk of falling asleep at the wheel, the NSW Coroner's Court has heard.
The revelations came during the inquest into the death of Nathan Zanuso, 27, who died after a head-on collision with a B-double at Ulmarra on the NSW North Coast in February 2010.
It later emerged that the driver of the vehicle, Robert Pearce, then 52, had fallen asleep at the wheel and veered onto the wrong side of the road.
Mr Pearce was convicted for negligent driving occasioning death but given a suspended sentence after an independent medical specialist found that he suffered from sleep apnoea, a condition which repeatedly disturbs a person's sleep and can lead to extreme drowsiness.
On Wednesday, NSW Coroner Mary Jerram heard from two leading sleep illness experts both of whom had found about 50 per cent of long-haul truck drivers suffered from the condition.
"As a group, they tend to exhibit many of the risk factors associated with sleep apnoea, in that they are middle aged males who are often overweight and obese," said Sydney University Professor Ron Grunstein.
His study of 1000 truck drivers last year found that 46 per cent suffered from moderate to severe sleep apnoea, double the prevalence in the broader community.
Fellow sleep illness expert, Dr Anup Desai, said his research had uncovered a "massive potential disease burden" and in his experience there were serious problems with the medical checks given to truck drivers before they hit the road.
"There's a huge gap [in the assessment process] where there are people assessing these drivers ... who are aware of sleep apnoea, but it doesn't seem to be transferring into actual sleep assessments," Dr Desai said.
He said this was partly a problem with the assessors but also the reluctance of truck drivers to be assessed in fear that they will be taken off the road.
Magistrate Jerram will consider the need for more effective and frequent medical checks for drivers, and more comprehensive nationwide testing guidelines.
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