Docs to Develop Tests to Test Driving Skills of Alzheimer's Of Patients

A recent study spearheaded by a University of Iowa biostatistician has revealed that doctors may soon be upto the task of testing cognitive skills of Alzheimer's patients to judge if they can drive without causing harm to themselves or to others.

"The number of people with dementia is increasing as our population ages, and we will face a growing public health problem of elderly drivers with memory loss," said the study's author, Jeffrey Dawson, associate professor of biostatistics in the University of Iowa College of Public Health.

Diseases Related to Old Age
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In the study, 40 drivers with early Alzheimer's disease and 115 elderly drivers without this diagnosis underwent a combination of off-road tests that measured thinking, movement and visual skills.

The participants also drove a 35-mile route in and outside a city. Driving safety errors were recorded by a driving expert, based on a video review of the drive.

The researchers found that drivers with Alzheimer's disease committed an average of 42 safety mistakes, or 27 percent more errors than those made by the drivers without Alzheimer's disease, who committed an average of 33 safety errors on the test drive.

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The most common mistakes were lane violations. For every five years older the participant was, the number of safety errors went up by about two and a half, whether or not the driver had Alzheimer's disease.

Among the study drivers with Alzheimer's disease, those who performed better on the off-road tests also made fewer on-road safety errors.

Early Alzheimers in Drivers may Prove Potentially Dangerous
Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University have revealed that people with early Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) are more prone to accidents as well as performing poorly in road tests

"The goal is to prevent crashes while still maximizing patients' rights and freedom to be mobile," Dawson said.

"By measuring driver performance through off-road tests of memory and visual and motor abilities, we may be able to develop a standardized assessment of a person's fitness to drive," Dawson added.

Risk Factors for Alzheimer's Disease Depend on Gender
French researchers have found that the risk factors for developing Alzheimer's disease are dependent on the gender of a person.

The research was published in the Feb. 10 print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Source-ANI
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