Useful Field of View Impairments in Drivers with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

As a group, drivers with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have an increased risk for motor vehicle crashes, but determining individual crash risk is difficult. We tested the hypothesis that drivers with OSA have impaired visual attention, as indexed by reduced useful field of view (UFOV), a predictor of high-risk driving. Forty-one drivers with untreated OSA and 50 comparison drivers were assessed by UFOV. OSA drivers performed significantly worse than controls on all UFOV subtests and had reduced UFOV as indicated by a higher mean total UFOV score (p = 0.0017). However, only 4 OSA and 2 control drivers had values indicative of high crash risk (UFOV reduction >23%). Drivers with OSA have reduced UFOV compared to drivers without neurological or sleep disorders. However, as UFOV identifies few high-risk drivers, its role in assessing crash risk in an unselected population of drivers with OSA appears to be limited.