{
  "abstract": "Introduction Untreated OSAS is associated with increased road traffic accidents likely due to excessive sleepiness and advising patients about driving is a key issue in the management. Considerable variation is seen in the advice that a patient is likely to receive, and clinicians find this challenging. Screening questionnaires evaluates general sleepiness and there is a need to develop a driving specific sleepiness score which may aid in better risk assessment. We have evaluated this further in this prospective pilot study.Methods Patients with an ESS of >10 and being considered for a CPAP trial either due to excessive symptoms and/or severity of OSAS following pre clinic testing, who drove regularly were recruited following an assessment in the clinic. Healthy volunteers with no symptoms of OSAS and with an ESS of <10 were recruited as controls. All subjects completed a questionnaire about driving that evaluated sleepiness specifically while driving termed the Leeds Driving Risk Score. Subjects were asked to rate on a scale ranging from ‘never’ (score 0), ‘slight’ (score 1), ‘moderate’ (score 2) to ‘high’ (score 3) their chance of dozing off or falling asleep while driving at different times of the day and on journeys of different durations (maximum possible score 30).Results (table 1)OSAS patients (n=150) and controls (n=121) matched for age and driving experience were recruited. ESS and BMI were significantly worse in OSAS patients compared to controls. There was a significant difference in the Leeds Driving Risk Score between OSAS patients and controls (mean score 7±6 v/s 2±1; P= < 0.0001). No control had a total score of > 7 and 34% (n=51) of OSAS patients had a score of > 7. OSAS patients with a score of > 7 admitted to recurrent nodding in the last 12 months.Abstract P49 Table 1Conclusion Preliminary data suggests that a driving specific sleepiness score may aid in better risk assessment and may be a complementary, and less threatening way, to ask about sleepiness likely to impair safe driving. Further studies are needed to validate these findings and also in mild OSA cohorts.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, Wakefield, UK"
      ],
      "name": "A Dwarakanath"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, UK"
      ],
      "name": "D Ghosh"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, UK"
      ],
      "name": "MW Elliott"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P49 Evaluating driving risk assessment in untreated obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) patients and in controls by using the leeds driving risk score",
  "uid": "815e4e7f-d794-5687-a30e-b355f4f4cbd4"
}