Studying the biochemical and psychosomatic aspect of drivers’ fatigue

Abstract

Central fatigue out of prolonged monotonous task and sleep deprivation in drivers accounts for majority of road-traffic accidents. This necessitates a precise staging of drivers’ fatigue in real time. The intent of this current study is to evaluate the overall fatigue in drivers by observing the variation of a series of biochemical and subjective parameters during simulated driving condition comprising monotonous task and sleep deprivation. Briefly, 12 well trained healthy drivers were subjected to simulated driving environment for a period of 16 hours with one night sleep deprivation. During the whole course of experiment, blood samples were collected at an interval of 5 hours and were analyzed for various biochemical parameters including random blood sugar, blood urea, serum creatinine, triglyceride, cholesterol and total protein content. In addition, the extent of fatigue was quantified by some subjective assessment such as SF36v2 Health Survey Scoring, Beck Depression Inventory and Oswestry Disability Questionnaire. All these parameters (both biochemical and subjective) gradually increased with the progress of fatigue. The subjective assessments concluded a substantial decline in health (both physical and mental) and a significant increase in depression level with the progression of fatigue. It was concluded that a combined result of biochemical parameters and subjective assessment can be utilized in clinical staging of fatigue.