Dataset Information

Road safety in drivers with Parkinson disease.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To assess road safety and its predictors in drivers with Parkinson disease (PD).

Methods

Licensed, active drivers with PD (n = 84; age = 67.3 +/- 7.8, median Hoehn & Yahr stage II) and controls (n = 182; age = 67.6 +/- 7.5) underwent cognitive, visual, and motor tests, and drove a standardized route in urban and rural settings in an instrumented vehicle. Safety errors were judged and documented by a driving expert based on video data review.

Results

Drivers with PD committed more total safety errors compared to controls (41.6 +/- 14.6 vs 32.9 +/- 12.3, p < 0.0001); 77.4% of drivers with PD committed more errors than the median total error count of the controls (medians: PD = 39.5, controls = 31.0). Lane violations were the most common error category in both groups. Group differences in some error categories became insignificant after results were adjusted for demographics and familiarity with the local driving environment. The PD group performed worse on tests of motor, cognitive, and visual abilities. Within the PD group, older age and worse performances on tests of visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, attention, visuospatial abilities, visual memory, and general cognition predicted error counts. Measures of visual processing speed and attention and far visual acuity were jointly predictive of error counts in a multivariate model.

Conclusions

Overall, drivers with Parkinson disease (PD) had poorer road safety compared to controls, but there was considerable variability among the drivers with PD, and some performed normally. Familiarity with the driving environment was a mitigating factor against unsafe driving in PD. Impairments in visual perception and cognition were associated with road safety errors in drivers with PD.

SUBMITTER: Uc EY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2790224 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Road safety in drivers with Parkinson disease.

Uc E Y EY Rizzo M M Johnson A M AM Dastrup E E Anderson S W SW Dawson J D JD

Neurology 20091201 24

<h4>Objective</h4>To assess road safety and its predictors in drivers with Parkinson disease (PD).<h4>Methods</h4>Licensed, active drivers with PD (n = 84; age = 67.3 +/- 7.8, median Hoehn & Yahr stage II) and controls (n = 182; age = 67.6 +/- 7.5) underwent cognitive, visual, and motor tests, and drove a standardized route in urban and rural settings in an instrumented vehicle. Safety errors were judged and documented by a driving expert based on video data review.<h4>Results</h4>Drivers with P ...[more]

PMID: 20018639

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Distracted driving attributable to the performance of secondary tasks is a major cause of motor vehicle crashes both among teenagers who are novice drivers and among adults who are experienced drivers. METHODS:We conducted two studies on the relationship between the performance of secondary tasks, including cell-phone use, and the risk of crashes and near-crashes. To facilitate objective assessment, accelerometers, cameras, global positioning systems, and other sensors were installed in the vehicles of 42 newly licensed drivers (16.3 to 17.0 years of age) and 109 adults with more driving experience. RESULTS:During the study periods, 167 crashes and near-crashes among novice drivers and 518 crashes and near-crashes among experienced drivers were identified. The risk of a crash or near-crash among novice drivers increased significantly if they were dialing a cell phone (odds ratio, 8.32; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.83 to 24.42), reaching for a cell phone (odds ratio, 7.05; 95% CI, 2.64 to 18.83), sending or receiving text messages (odds ratio, 3.87; 95% CI, 1.62 to 9.25), reaching for an object other than a cell phone (odds ratio, 8.00; 95% CI, 3.67 to 17.50), looking at a roadside object (odds ratio, 3.90; 95% CI, 1.72 to 8.81), or eating (odds ratio, 2.99; 95% CI, 1.30 to 6.91). Among experienced drivers, dialing a cell phone was associated with a significantly increased risk of a crash or near-crash (odds ratio, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.38 to 4.54); the risk associated with texting or accessing the Internet was not assessed in this population. The prevalence of high-risk attention to secondary tasks increased over time among novice drivers but not among experienced drivers. CONCLUSIONS:The risk of a crash or near-crash among novice drivers increased with the performance of many secondary tasks, including texting and dialing cell phones. (Funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.).

Dataset Information

Road safety in drivers with Parkinson disease.

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Road safety in drivers with Parkinson disease.

Similar Datasets

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