Department of Human Development and Family Science, North Dakota State University, EML Hall 283D, 1310 Centennial Boulevard, Fargo, ND 58102, USA.
Accid Anal Prev. 2013 Dec;61:197-202. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2013.05.010. Epub 2013 May 22.
Older adults with clinically-defined dementia may report reducing their driving more than cognitively normal controls. However, it is unclear how these groups compare to individuals with clinically-defined mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in terms of driving behaviors. The current study investigated self-reported driving habits among adults age 60 and older with clinical MCI (n=41), clinical mild dementia (n=40), and normal cognition (n=43). Participants reported their driving status, driving frequency (days per week), and how often they avoided accessing the community, making left turns, driving at night, driving in unfamiliar areas, driving on high-traffic roads, and driving in bad weather. After adjusting for education, a MANCOVA revealed that participants with MCI and dementia avoided unfamiliar areas and high-traffic roads significantly more than normal participants. Participants with dementia also avoided left turns and accessing the community more than those with normal cognition and MCI (p<0.05 for all). The other driving variables did not significantly differ between groups. Thus, older adults with clinically-defined MCI, as well as those with dementia, avoided some complex driving situations more than cognitively intact adults. However, all diagnostic groups had similar rates of driving cessation and frequency. Future research should examine the safety implications of such findings.
患有临床定义的痴呆症的老年人可能会比认知正常的对照组更频繁地减少驾驶。然而，目前尚不清楚这些群体与患有临床轻度认知障碍 (MCI) 的个体在驾驶行为方面相比如何。本研究调查了 60 岁及以上患有临床 MCI（n=41）、临床轻度痴呆（n=40）和认知正常（n=43）的成年人的自我报告驾驶习惯。参与者报告了他们的驾驶状况、驾驶频率（每周几天）以及他们避免进入社区、左转弯、夜间驾驶、在不熟悉的区域驾驶、在交通繁忙的道路上驾驶以及在恶劣天气下驾驶的频率。在调整了教育因素后，MANCOVA 显示 MCI 和痴呆症患者比正常参与者更频繁地避免前往不熟悉的区域和交通繁忙的道路。痴呆症患者比认知正常和 MCI 患者更频繁地避免左转弯和进入社区（所有 p 值均<0.05）。其他驾驶变量在组间没有显著差异。因此，患有临床定义的 MCI 的老年人以及患有痴呆症的老年人比认知正常的成年人更频繁地避免一些复杂的驾驶情况。然而，所有诊断组的驾驶停止和频率都相似。未来的研究应该检查这些发现的安全影响。
