Assessment of Driving Safety in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment

With population aging, drivers with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are increasing; however, there is little evidence available regarding their safety. The authors aimed to evaluate risk of unsafe on-road driving performance among older adults with MCI. The study was a cross-sectional observational study, set in Canberra, Australia. Participants were non-demented, current drivers (n = 302) aged 65 to 96 years (M = 75.7, SD = 6.18, 40% female) recruited through the community and primary and tertiary care clinics. Measures included a standardized on-road driving test (ORT), a battery of screening measures designed to evaluate older driver safety (UFOV, DriveSafe, Multi-D), a neurocognitive test battery, and questionnaires on driving history and behavior., RESULTS: Using Winblad criteria, 57 participants were classified as having MCI and 245 as cognitively normal (CN). While the MCI group had a significantly lower overall safety rating on the ORT (5.61 versus 6.05, p = 0.03), there was a wide range of driving safety scores in the CN and MCI groups. The MCI group performed worse than the CN group on the off-road screening tests. The best fitting model of predictors of ORT performance across the combined sample included age, the Multi-D, and DriveSafe, classifying 90.4% of the sample correctly. Adults with MCI exhibit a similar range of driving ability to CN adults, although on average they scored lower on off-road and on-road assessments. Driving specific tests were more strongly associated with safety ratings than traditional neuropsychological tests.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-161209
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13872877
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2017 Kaarin J.Anstey et al.
• Authors:
  • Anstey, Kaarin J
  • Eramudugolla, Ranmalee
  • Chopra, Sidhant
  • Price, Jasmine
  • Wood, Joanne M
• Publication Date: 2017

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1197-1205
• Serial:
  • Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
  • Volume: 57
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: IOS Press
  • ISSN: 1387-2877
  • EISSN: 1875-8908
  • Serial URL: http://content.iospress.com/journals/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Cognitive impairment; Cross sectional studies; Driver performance; Driving tests; Traffic safety
• Uncontrolled Terms: Neuropsychological assessment
• Geographic Terms: Canberra (Australia)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01666189
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 17 2018 11:33AM