title: Assessment of Driving Safety in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment.
abstract: With population aging, drivers with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are increasing; however, there is little evidence available regarding their safety.
  
  
  
  We aimed to evaluate risk of unsafe on-road driving performance among older adults with MCI.
  
  
  
  The study was a cross-sectional observational study, set in Canberra, Australia. Participants were non-demented, current drivers (n = 302) aged 65 to 96 years (M = 75.7, SD = 6.18, 40% female) recruited through the community and primary and tertiary care clinics. Measures included a standardized on-road driving test (ORT), a battery of screening measures designed to evaluate older driver safety (UFOV®, DriveSafe, Multi-D), a neurocognitive test battery, and questionnaires on driving history and behavior.
  
  
  
  Using Winblad criteria, 57 participants were classified as having MCI and 245 as cognitively normal (CN). While the MCI group had a significantly lower overall safety rating on the ORT (5.61 versus 6.05, p = 0.03), there was a wide range of driving safety scores in the CN and MCI groups. The MCI group performed worse than the CN group on the off-road screening tests. The best fitting model of predictors of ORT performance across the combined sample included age, the Multi-D, and DriveSafe, classifying 90.4% of the sample correctly.
  
  
  
  Adults with MCI exhibit a similar range of driving ability to CN adults, although on average they scored lower on off-road and on-road assessments. Driving specific tests were more strongly associated with safety ratings than traditional neuropsychological tests.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
authors.forename: Kaarin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Anstey
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
authors.forename: Ranmalee
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Eramudugolla
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
authors.forename: Sidhant
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chopra
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
authors.forename: Jasmine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: School of Optometry and Vision Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane City, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Joanne M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wood
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001334:Automobile Driving; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D000073216:Mental Status and Dementia Tests; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012306:Risk; D012449:Safety; D057566:Self Report
keywords: Driving safety; mild cognitive impairment; neuropsychological assessment; older drivers; on-road drivingperformance