The Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health is developing a unique tool to simply and cost-effectively assess the driving ability of people who have sleep apnoea and is seeking a PhD candidate to assist.

A common disorder, obstructive sleep apnoea is linked to increased daytime sleepiness and impaired driving performance. Although the condition places affected patients at higher risk for car accidents, not all are impaired in this way.

The current gold-standard test for daytime sleepiness assesses a patient’s ability to stay awake in a sleep-inducing laboratory environment. This test is labour intensive and expensive, and so is limited to a small number of patients. An additional disadvantage is the test’s inconsistency in identifying driving impairment in sleep apnoea patients.

Previous research undertaken by the Flinders sleep institute has identified promising biomarkers of driving risk for people suffering from sleep apnoea, which the team is now looking to test and explore. A more efficient testing method is greatly needed and has the ability to significantly reduce the human and financial costs of fatigue.

Key aims of the project:

• test the performance of biomarkers to predict diving impairment in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea
• compare performance of biomarkers with the current gold-standard test
• explore additional biological biomarkers, with a view to further improving the test

This NHMRC funded project comes with a full-time PhD stipend of $27,082 per annum for up to 3 years, with a first class honours candidate sought who has an interest in sleep disorders, sleep deprivation, neurobiology and/or psychology.

For more information contact Dr Andrew Vakulin (PhD supervisor).