Age-related effect of sleepiness on driving performance: a systematic-review

Background: Several studies highlighted that sleepiness affects driving abilities. In particular,road traffic injuries due to excessive daytime sleepiness are about 10–20%. Considering that agingis related to substantial sleep changes and the number of older adults with driving license is increasing,the current review aims to summarize recent studies on this issue. Further, we intend to provideinsights for future research. Methods: From the 717 records screened, ten articles were selected andsystematically reviewed. Results: Among the selected articles, (a) five studies investigated sleepinessonly by self-reported standardized measures; (b) two studies assessed sleepiness also using abehavioral task; (c) three studies obtained objective measures by electroencephalographic recordings.Conclusions: The available literature on the topic reports several limitations. Overall, many findingsconverge in evidencing that older drivers are less vulnerable to sleep loss and sleepiness-relateddriving impairments than young adults. These discrepancies in sleepiness vulnerability between agegroups may be ascribed to differences in subjects’ lifestyles. Moreover, it has been hypothesized thatolder adults self-regulate their driving and avoid specific dangerous situations. We believe that aneasy protocol to objectively evaluate the vigilance level in elderly and young adults is required, andfurther studies are needed.