Impaired vision and other factors associated with driving cessation in the elderly: the Blue Mountains Eye Study

Abstract

The aim of present study was to review vision and other factors associated with the cessation of driving. As part of the Blue Mountains Eye Study, detailed demographic information, driving status and medical history were taken. Visual acuity was measured during a standardized refraction and visual fields documented. Potential risk factors were decided a priori. Among the 3654 Eye Study participants, 2831 (77.5%) had driven a motor vehicle in the past, of whom 2379 (84.0%) were current drivers and 452 (16.0%, 95% CI 14.6-17.4%) said they had stopped driving. Older persons and women were more likely to have stopped driving. After adjusting for age and sex, sensory impairment affecting vision and hearing, plus chronic medical conditions and benzodiazepine use were significantly associated with cessation of driving. The study found that sensory impairment, particularly visual parameters, was associated with the decision to stop driving by older subjects.

Driving Cessation and Self-Reported Car Crashes in Older Drivers: The Impact of Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in a Population-Based Study

“…Crash involvement 12 Some 240 current drivers had experienced at least one crash within the last five years (24.3 %), with 19 of them having been involved in a crash with at least one injured individual (7.9 %). Fifteen percent had experienced one crash, 5.6 % two crashes, 2.0 % three crashes and 1.5 % four or more crashes.…”

“…Self-reported variables related to stroke, head trauma with amnesic disorders lasting more than 24 hours, Parkinson's disease and diagnoses of prevalent and future dementia were combined in the following way: when dementia occurred either alone or with one of the three other pathologies, subjects were classified in the dementia category; when Parkinson's disease occurred either alone or with stroke or head trauma, subjects were classified as having Parkinson's disease; when stroke occurred alone or associated with head trauma, subjects were included in the stroke category. Diabetes and heart disease, found in the literature to be associated with driving cessation, [10][11][12] were also taken into account. Depression, assessed by the psychologist using the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (score between 0 and 60), 41 was also analyzed.…”

“…The literature has shown that visual [8][9][10][11][12] and motor abilities 9,13-15 constitute major factors in driving cessation. Some cognitive deficits also act as determining factors for driving cessation.…”

How Multitasking Interacts with Visual Impairment and Age on Measures of Driving Performance

“…Gallo et al (31) report an association between hearing impairment and reports of adverse driving events, and Ivers et al (2) find that higher crash rates are associated with poorer visual acuity and self-reported hearing loss, especially in the right ear. Similarly, driving cessation has been linked with hearing and vision impairment (32). However, much research to date has relied on self-reported driving performance, which may have poor content validity.…”

The effect of auditory distraction on the useful field of view in hearing impaired individuals and its implications for driving

“…A large proportion of this work has not measured driving performance directly, instead focussing on road traffic accident or driving cessation rates for hearing impaired individuals compared to those with normal hearing. The outcomes of these studies are heterogeneous (see Table 1), with some exhibiting an increased risk of negative driving outcomes as a result of hearing loss (Barreto et al, 1997, Ivers et al, 1999, Gilhotra et al, 2001, Picard et al, 2008, but others showing no such association (McCloskey et al, 1994, Sims et al, 2000, Unsworth et al, 2007, Green et al, 2013. Accordingly, there has been no consensus reached over whether hearing loss has an impact on driving safety.…”