Tests may judge dementia patients’ driving safety
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A battery of cognitive tests may help predict which people with mild dementia can still drive safely, researchers reported Monday.
In a study of older drivers with and without early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers found that drivers’ scores on tests of memory, visual processing and motor skills were good predictors of their performance on road tests.
The findings, published in the journal Neurology, suggest that doctors can use such tests to help judge which patients with mild dementia can still get behind the wheel without endangering themselves or others.
“The goal is to prevent crashes while still maximizing patients’ rights and freedom to be mobile,” lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey D. Dawson, of the University of Iowa College of Public Health in Iowa City, said in a written statement.
“By measuring driver performance through off-road tests of memory, visual and motor abilities, we may be able to develop a standardized assessment of a person’s fitness to drive,” he said.
For the study, Dawson and his colleagues gave the battery of tests to 40 drivers with probable early-stage Alzheimer’s and 115 elderly drivers with normal cognitive function. The drivers then underwent a standard road test, driving along a 35-mile route.
In general, Alzheimer’s patients made more safety errors—an average of 42, versus 33 in the comparison group. Most errors were relatively minor, such as failing to advance when a traffic light turned green.
Other mistakes, though, were more serious, such as allowing the car to drift over the road’s center line—an error that was more common in the Alzheimer’s group.
When Dawson’s team looked at scores on the cognitive tests, they found that Alzheimer’s patients who performed better also tended to make fewer safety errors on the road.
“Since these tests provide additional predictive value of driving performance beyond diagnosis alone,” the researchers write, “clinicians may use these tests to help predict whether a patient with AD can safely operate a motor vehicle.”
Further studies are still needed, they say—including research on whether it is possible to reduce common driving errors among people with early dementia.
SOURCE: Neurology, February 10, 2009.
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