Neuropsychological tests and driving in dementia: a review of the recent literature.
BACKGROUND
Neuropsychological tests measure several aspects of cognition and are useful to evaluate elderly drivers with cognitive impairment. However, there is no consensus on a standard battery of tests that could accurately predict safe driving.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to review specific neuropsychological measures that may be useful to predict driving competence of demented individuals.


METHODS
To address neuropsychological tests used for dementia and the ability to drive, the authors searched for the keywords dementia, Alzheimer's, drive, driver, drivers, driving, tests, neuropsychological, and assessment, in Medline, PubMed, ISI and SciELO databases seeking articles from 2000 to 2008.


RESULTS
From 131 articles, 27 met the inclusion criteria. Porteus Maze, Clock drawing, Trail B, UFOV and NAB Tests were found to be the most relevant neuropsychological measures for the evaluation of fitness to drive.


CONCLUSIONS
Porteus Maze, Clock Drawing, Trail B, UFOV and NAB tests highlight visuospatial attention demands and/ or executive function. Those and other visuospatial and executive measures may be useful to predict driving competence of demented individuals.
Silva
Marcia Thereza
MT
Instituto de Psiquiatria do Rio de Janeiro IPUB, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. marciather@gmail.com
Laks
Jerson
J
Engelhardt
Eliasz
E
D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D016743:Mental Competency / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests