Fatigue Determination in Drivers Using Biomarkers and Subjective Assessment Tools

Abstract

Fatigue is a condition of extreme tiredness, resulted from physical or mental stress due to prolonged monotonous and stressful work with/without sleep deprivation. It can originate centrally or peripherally due to a multitude of inducing factors like excessive physical activity, peer-pressure, undue stress, tight schedules etc. Fatigue in specific occupations like driving can be hazardous by increasing the risk of road traffic accidents. In case of drivers, it is recorded the most for the ones who drive for long distances, or drive heavy-vehicles or the ones who are seasoned drivers. The driver shows symptoms like sleepiness, loss of pleasure, slower reaction/reflex, pessimism, inattentiveness and irritation. According to WHO report, road traffic injuries are the 6th leading cause in India. And conferring to a study done by JP Research India, over a span of 2 years, fatigue was the leading cause contributing to 29% of the total accidents. But there is still no defined machinery to monitor a driver’s fatigue in real time. In order to get an estimate of physical fatigue in drivers, appropriate study is essential. In the current study, an attempt was made to quantify physical fatigue in healthy non-trained subjects during simulated driving session of 12 hours at a stretch. The goal was to observe and estimate the progress of fatigue in the subjects out of driving task. Briefly, 10 male healthy subjects with mean age of 25 ± 4 years were selected. During 12 hours of driving on the simulator, blood samples were collected at 6 hours intervals from each subject, for estimation of Serotonin, CK-MB and Lactic acid. The subjective feeling of stress and fatigue was evaluated in the participants using subjective assessment tools like Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Berlin Questionnaire and Beck Depression Inventory. All the biochemical parameters increased significantly as fatigue progressed. The subjective assessment scores also indicated the fatigue process & strongly correlated. The subjective assessment scores also indicated the fatigue progress and strongly correlated with the biochemical parameters.