title: Visual and cognitive predictors of driving safety in Parkinson's disease patients.
abstract: This study assessed the clinical utility of contrast sensitivity (CS) relative to attention, executive function, and visuospatial abilities for predicting driving safety in participants with Parkinson's disease (PD). Twenty-five, non-demented PD patients completed measures of contrast sensitivity, visuospatial skills, executive functions, and attention. All PD participants also underwent a formal on-road driving evaluation. Of the 25 participants, 11 received a marginal or unsafe rating on the road test. Poorer driving performance was associated with worse performance on measures of CS, visuospatial constructions, set shifting, and attention. While impaired driving was associated with a range of cognitive and visual abilities, only a composite measure of executive functioning and visuospatial abilities, and not CS or attentional skills, predicted driving performance. These findings suggest that neuropsychological tests, which are multifactorial in nature and require visual perception and visual spatial judgments are the most useful screening measures for hazardous driving in PD patients.
authors.affiliation: Memorial Hospital of RI, Department of Medical Rehabilitation, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA. Melissa_Amick@Brown.edu
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Amick
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grace
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Ott
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention; D001333:Automobile Driver Examination; D001334:Automobile Driving; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*