Comparing the driving behaviours of individuals with frontotemporal lobar degeneration and those with Alzheimer's disease.
BACKGROUND
Assessing driving aptitude in dementia patients is critically important for both patient and public safety. However, there have been only a few reports on the driving behaviours and accident risk of patients with dementia, especially frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Therefore, we compared the characteristics of driving behaviours in patients with FTLD and those with Alzheimer's disease (AD).


METHODS
The subjects were 28 FTLD and 67 AD patients who visited the Department of Psychiatry, Kochi Medical School Hospital. We conducted semi-structured interviews with their families and caregivers about traffic accident history and changes in patient driving behaviours after dementia onset and then compared the findings between the two groups.


RESULTS
Overall changes in driving behaviours were reported in 89% (25/28) and 76% (51/67) of the FTLD and AD patients, respectively (P = 0.17). In the FTLD group, difficulty in judging inter-vehicle distances, ignoring road signs and traffic signals, and distraction were reported in 50% (14/28), 61% (17/28), and 50% (14/28) of patients, respectively, and 75% (21/28) patients had caused a traffic accident after dementia onset. The risk of causing an accident was higher in the FTLD group than in the AD group (odds ratio = 10.4, 95% confidence interval = 3.7-29.1). In addition, the mean duration between dementia onset and a traffic accident was 1.35 years in the FTLD group compared with 3.0 years in the AD group (P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with FTLD were more likely to show dangerous driving behaviours than those with AD, and the risk of causing a traffic accident may be higher in patients with FTLD from an early disease stage.
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Kochi, Japan.|Geisei Hospital, Kochi, Japan.
Ryoko
R
Fujito
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Kochi, Japan.
Naoto
N
Kamimura
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.
Manabu
M
Ikeda
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan.
Asuka
A
Koyama
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Kochi, Japan.
Shinji
S
Shimodera
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Kochi, Japan.
Shigeru
S
Morinobu
Aizu Medical Center, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan.
Shimpei
S
Inoue
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D057174:Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
dementia; driving behaviour; frontotemporal lobar degeneration; traffic accidents