Predicting On-Road Driving Skills, Fitness to Drive, and Prospective Accident Risk in Older Drivers and Drivers with Mild Cognitive Impairment: The Importance of Non-Cognitive Risk Factors.

ABSTRACT:

Background

On-road driving behavior can be impaired in older drivers and particularly in drivers with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Objective

To determine whether cognitive and non-cognitive risk factors for driving safety may allow an accurate and economic prediction of on-road driving skills, fitness to drive, and prospective accident risk in healthy older drivers and drivers with MCI, we examined a representative combined sample of older drivers with and without MCI (N?=?74) in an observational on-road study. In particular, we examined whether non-cognitive risk factors improve predictive accuracy provided by cognitive factors alone.

Methods

Multiple and logistic hierarchical regression analyses were utilized to predict different driving outcomes. In all regression models, we included cognitive predictors alone in a first step and added non-cognitive predictors in a second step.

Results

Results revealed that the combination of cognitive and non-cognitive risk factors significantly predicted driving skills (R2adjusted?=?0.30) and fitness to drive (81.2% accuracy) as well as the number (R2adjusted?=?0.21) and occurrence (88.3% accuracy) of prospective minor at-fault accidents within the next 12 months. In all analyses, the inclusion of non-cognitive risk factors led to a significant increase of explained variance in the different outcome variables.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that a combination of the most robust cognitive and non-cognitive risk factors may allow an economic and accurate prediction of on-road driving performance and prospective accident risk in healthy older drivers and drivers with MCI. Therefore, non-cognitive risk factors appear to play an important role.

SUBMITTER: Toepper M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7902978 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature