Level of Snoring and Sleepiness Among Commercial Car Drivers in Southwestern Nigeria

Snoring and sleepiness among commercial car drivers is an issue of public concern. Habitual sleepiness on the wheel is obviously associated with a high level of risk of accident and possible mortality to both drivers and passengers. Hence, this study aims to find the prevalence of snoring and level of sleepiness among commercial car drivers. This was a prospective community based study among intra-city commercial car drivers in a Southwestern part of Nigeria. The Berlin questionnaire and Epworth Sleepiness Scale were used to evaluate all participants for snoring and sleepiness respectively. The data obtained was analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) Version 20.0 software and the results were presented in descriptive format. A total of 105 drivers participated in the study and they were all males. Mean age of the drivers was 44.8±12.03years. The prevalence of snoring was 49% out which 30.7% had snoring as loud as talking and 16.3% had snoring that can be heard in adjacent rooms. Abnormal level of sleepiness was found in 35.2% of the drivers and 15.2% reported they had fallen asleep while driving. Snoring and abnormal level of sleepiness has been found to be prevalent among commercial car drivers.