Carr D B, LaBarge E, Dunnigan K, Storandt M
Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 1998 Mar;53(2):M135-9. doi: 10.1093/gerona/53a.2.m135.
Dementia may contribute significantly to the driving impairment commonly associated with older adults. A brief, reliable, and sensitive screening method to identify drivers who may have cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease or other dementing illnesses is needed for a variety of settings, including driver's license renewal offices.
Control and demented individuals who participated in the Washington University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) between March 1, 1995, and November 30, 1995, were evaluated for the ability to identify traffic signs correctly. After initially testing 39 traffic signs, 10 signs were selected based on scorer reliability and their ability to discriminate cognitively normal individuals from those with dementia.
Sixty-six cognitively normal older people (average age 78 years) and 70 people with dementia (average age 76 years) were tested. Using a cutoff score at or below 9 (out of a possible score of 20), the Traffic Sign Naming test successfully identifies 74% of people with mild or moderate dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) from cognitively healthy older persons of comparable age, sex, education, and socioeconomic status; 11% of the healthy drivers were misclassified as demented.
A brief, 2-min or less, easily administered naming test of 10 traffic signs differentiated drivers with mild or moderate DAT from cognitively normal controls. This brief test may be useful to identify older drivers in need of further assessment of driving skill.
痴呆症可能是导致老年人常见驾驶能力受损的重要原因。在包括驾照更新办公室在内的各种场所，都需要一种简短、可靠且灵敏的筛查方法，以识别可能因阿尔茨海默病或其他痴呆性疾病而存在认知障碍的驾驶员。
对1995年3月1日至1995年11月30日期间参与华盛顿大学阿尔茨海默病研究中心（ADRC）的对照组和痴呆患者进行正确识别交通标志能力的评估。在最初测试39个交通标志后，根据评分者信度及其区分认知正常个体与痴呆患者的能力，选出了10个标志。
对66名认知正常的老年人（平均年龄78岁）和70名痴呆患者（平均年龄76岁）进行了测试。使用20分制下9分及以下的临界值，交通标志命名测试成功地从年龄、性别、教育程度和社会经济地位相当的认知健康老年人中识别出74%的轻度或中度阿尔茨海默型痴呆（DAT）患者；11%的健康驾驶员被误分类为痴呆患者。
一项简短的、2分钟或更短时间、易于实施的10个交通标志命名测试，能够区分轻度或中度DAT驾驶员与认知正常的对照组。这项简短测试可能有助于识别需要进一步评估驾驶技能的老年驾驶员。
