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Evaluation of validity for novel biomedical instrument measuring fatigue, sleep deprivation and performance capacity
Author(s) -
Dawkins Marshall,
Watson Drew,
Miller Lance,
Lorenz Courtney,
Latman Neal S.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a411
Subject(s) - sleep deprivation , medicine , audiology , wakefulness , sleep (system call) , privation , psychology , physical therapy , circadian rhythm , electroencephalography , psychiatry , computer science , operating system
The PMI FIT 2000–3 is an instrument that purports to measure fatigue, sleep deprivation and performance capacity by assessing pupil diameter, constriction amplitude, constriction latency and saccadic velocity and labeling the subject “High Risk” or “Low Risk”. The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the instrument to detect fatigue in people. Twelve subjects were sleep deprived for 48 hours. The subjects were continuously monitored by the researchers to ensure wakefulness and were also assessed by the instrument every 4 hours. The results of the study showed that none of the subjects were labeled “High Risk” for fatigue at the end of the 48 hours. The distribution of “Low Risk” and “High Risk” assessments throughout the study period appeared random. In no case was a test subject labeled “High Risk” without being labeled “Low Risk” during the same test period. Overall, no test subject was consistently labeled “High Risk” for fatigue, poor performance or sleep deprivation at any time. Conclusions In this study, the PMI FIT 2000–3 failed to find any of the subjects fatigued or sleep deprived at the end of the 48‐hour period by labeling them “High Risk”. The instrument failed to indicate a trend that the subjects were becoming more fatigued or sleep deprived as the 48‐hour test period progressed. Of the four measurements listed above, only saccadic velocity showed any potential to indicate a trend towards fatigue, reduced performance or sleep deprivation. Therefore, from this study, we concluded that the PMI FIT 2000–3 is not a valid measure of fatigue, sleep deprivation or performance capacity. This study was funded by a grant from Aircraft Certification Branch of Transport Canada Civil Aviation.