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Do alcohol use and sleep deprivation before driving affect people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) more severely than they affect other people? To find out, investigators tested the effects of alcohol (to a level of 0.05 g/dL; lower than the legal driving limit in the U.S.) and sleep restriction (4 hours maximum in previous 24 hours) on simulated driving performance in 38 untreated patients with OSA and in 20 age-matched controls.
In all participants, both sleep restriction and alcohol consumption worsened steering deviation, and sleep restriction worsened braking reaction time. In both alcohol consumption and sleep-restriction simulations, participants with OSA had greater deviation for steering out of the median lane and greater deterior…