The assessment of fitness to drive after a stroke: The Nordic Stroke Driver Screening Assessment

Abstract

The British Stroke Driver Screening Assessment (SDSA) is a set of four simple cognitive tests to evaluate driving fitness in stroke patients. To evaluate its usefulness in a Scandinavian context, we adapted the tests and assessed a group of 97 stroke patients from Sweden and Norway, using a driving test as the criterion. When results were calculated according to the original method, based on a discriminant function, less than 70% of the participants were correctly classified. To improve the predictive potential, a new discriminant analysis was performed, using the scores of a subsample of 49 patients, and validated on the remaining 48 participants. In total, 78% of the patients were correctly classified, but specificity was superior to sensitivity. We conclude that the Nordic version of the SDSA is a useful instrument, provided that test scores are interpreted in a balanced manner, taking into account the possibility of compensatory traffic behavior.

Prediction of Driving Ability in People with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Using the Stroke Driver Screening Assessment

“…Similar results were found in a study that applied the discriminant equation derived from the data of a Nordic sample of stroke survivors to predict the road performance of stroke survivors in Sweden and Norway. 22 It therefore seems advisable to use the equation derived using data from the population in the country in which the test is administered (in this case, the discriminant equation based on the study sample) to obtain more accurate predictions. Clinically, the raw score of patients' performance on each test of the SDSA is used to replace the name of the test in the discriminant equation, and the totals for the "pass" and "fail" equations are calculated.…”

“…15,16 The SDSA was originally developed in the United Kingdom and has been modified for use in other countries, including the United States. 9,15,16,22,23 The reliability and validity of the different versions of the battery as a good predictor of driving performance after stroke have been established. 16,18,24,25 The accuracy and sensitivity of predicting the road performance (the main outcome measure) using the equation based on the study sample (86% and 80%, …”

Off-Road and On-Road Driving Assessments Methods, What Do They Say? A Clinical Sample

“…Often a dual-control car has been used, but in the study by Lundberg et al (2003), the majority of the patients drove their own cars. In the present study, all patients drove a car with dual controls.…”

“…There were some improvements on Dot cancellation and Road sign recognition but no patient improved from a "fail" to a "pass." For Sweden, Denmark and Norway, there is a Nordic version, called the Nordic Stroke Driver Screening Assessment: NorSDSA (Lundberg, Caneman, Samuelsson, Hakamies-Blomqvist, & Almkvist, 2003). Some adaptations were made on the Nordic version; e.g., the cards for the Square matrices regarding the position of the driver (for right-hand traffic) and other road-signs for the Road sign recognition test.…”

Assessing the Overall Driving Performance of Older Drivers

“…The Road Sign Recognition (RSR) test is used to measure the knowledge of participants regarding road signs with a maximum score of 12 (Lundberg et al, 2003).…”