Early Alzheimer's May Hamper Driving

Study Shows "Potentially Hazardous Driving" In Patients With Mild Alzheimer's Disease

(WebMD)  Even the early stages of Alzheimer's disease may impair driving ability, new research shows.

In a new study, people with very mild or mild Alzheimer's disease had more accidents and worse scores on a road test than people of the same age without Alzheimer's disease.

Brian Ott, MD, of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I., and colleagues report their findings in today's advance online edition of Neurology.

Driving and Alzheimer's Disease

The study included 128 older drivers (average age: 75) who got brain scans and took mental skills tests. The group included 84 people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease.

During the three-year study, participants took a driving test at least twice and reported any accidents they had.

Ott's team checked state driving records to confirm participants' self-reported crash records. They also advised people who failed the driving test to stop driving.

Throughout the study, the Alzheimer's patients showed riskier driving profiles. They were more likely to fail their first driving test, had a bigger drop in their road test scores over time, and had a worse accident record than people without Alzheimer's.

People with very mild Alzheimer's disease performed better than those with mild Alzheimer's disease. But driving ability "declines fairly rapidly among patients with dementia," the researchers say, adding that the patients they studied may not represent all Alzheimer's patients.

Not Safe to Drive?

Ott's team argues that "vigilance and re-assessment of driving competence should be considered for all older drivers, regardless of whether or not they have cognitive impairment."

As for elders with mild dementia, Ott and colleagues say it would be "reasonable" to assess driving privileges every six months, though that may be expensive and not available nationwide.

But there are different views on issues of driving, aging, and Alzheimer's disease.

The American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and the American Academy of Neurology support considering halting driving for all Alzheimer's patients, including people with mild Alzheimer's disease, according to Ott's team.

But the Alzheimer's Association states on its Web site that "a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease alone is not a reason to take away driving privileges" and that driving decisions should rest with caregivers.

(As a caregiver, what made you decide it was time to take away the keys? Talk with others on our Alzheimer's Disease: Support Group message board.)

[grammawhamma]

"But the Alzheimer''s Association states on its Web site that "a diagnosis of Alzheimer''s disease alone is not a reason to take away driving privileges."

I strongly disagree!! How many times each year do you see on your local news that someone with Alzheimers is missing...last seen driving a car or truck? Sometimes they are found dead...and sometimes they are found lost, cold, hungry and confused in the middle of nowhere. Not to mention the accidents they could have/ might have caused in the process.

Regardless of a diagnosis of alzheimers or not...there should be mandatory road tests after a certain age to renew a driver''s license. I know a local 96 year old who just renewed his license by passing an eye exam...he is now good to go until age 104. He can barely walk, falls often, is very hard of hearing and he falls asleep in mid sentence frequently. Yup...that sounds safe!

[drivelphobe]

GrammaWhamma....

You are right on the money. Aging brings on a varied number of conditions, many obscure, that impair one''s abilities to function. Alzheimer''s is just one of them. We have enough drivers on the road creating havoc via carelessness and attitude problems. We should be more vigilant in renewing one''s privilege to drive. We could always rely on Giuliani and Hillary to supervise the process!

[erasmus6]

"How many times each year do you see on your local news that someone with Alzheimers is missing..." posted by GrammaWhamma

Those are usually people that are in later stages of Alzheimers.

"Regardless of a diagnosis of alzheimers or not...there should be mandatory road tests after a certain age to renew a driver''''s license."

Here in Canada, once you hit 80, it is mandatory that you have eyes tests and a physical exam every year. And depending on the results you may have to have a road test also.

Actually I think that they should make EVERYBODY go through a road test every 5 years or something. There are some people who just shouldn''t be driving and they are YOUNG.

Now take my husband for instance, he can''t do two things at once. So if he is turning on the radio or picking his nose, WATCH OUT!:)

[Snerdguy]

That explains it. Teens and twenty year olds have Alzheimer''s and get over it in their thirties unless they talk on cell phones while driving which seems to bring it on again. There are a few people that appear to have developed it at birth and stayed that way indefinitely. That has to be the reason why seemingly grown up people would act so irresponsibly.

Maybe the elderly wouldn''t feel as compelled to drive if they had an alternative means to engage in the same activities that everyone else finds necessary. There are few safe and practical options, if any, for them.

[erasmus6]

Posted by Snerdguy at 11:41 PM : Jan 26, 2008

WHAT????

The media reports exactly what Big Pharma wants them to report. Those advertising dollars keeps the disinformation wheel rolling. No wonder people are so confuse. They will go to any extend to monopolize health care.

[tmittelstaed]

The fact that this is news at all shows how incredibly stupid the average American is when it comes to driving a vehicle. It''s a sad day when something that should be as obvious to anyone as the nose on their face becomes news. It''s bad enough that the average driver has no inkling about how their vehicle even WORKS at all. It''s ten times worse that the average driver has no inkling about what is required to drive safely, and has to be told about it by news articles.
Ask anyone on the street if they drive, and if they say yes, ask them if they have ever heard of the 2 second rule on following a vehicle, and I''ll bet that 9 out of 10 of them will just give you the deer in the headlights look. I''ll bet that another 9 out of 10 of them don''t even know how many drinks they can drink before they are legally intoxicated and over the limit for driving. It''s a travesty.

[neurodoc2]

The compound resveratrol has shown interesting neuroprotective properties in clinical trials. Drs. Anderson and Setia reported in a January paper that of 121 with memory loss and early Alzheimers symptoms patients given biotivia Transmax, an extract of red wine used by researchers, 94 showed marked improvement in cholesterol levels, reduced inflammation and improved circulation. Resveratrol works by activating the human Sirt 1,2,3 genes much like caloric restriction does. Sirtris pharma is developing a synthetic version of transmax which it intends to have on the market in five years. In another study by Dr. Sinclair of Harvard published in the journal Nature in November transmax was shown to increase the life span of obese mammals by 31%. This is an exciting area of research and could lead to some revolutionary new preventative strategies and safer, less invasive treatments for a number of diseases.

[neurodoc2]

The compound resveratrol has shown interesting neuroprotective properties in clinical trials. Drs. Anderson and Setia reported in a January paper that of 121 with memory loss and early Alzheimers symptoms patients given biotivia Transmax, an extract of red wine used by researchers, 94 showed marked improvement in cholesterol levels, reduced inflammation and improved circulation. Resveratrol works by activating the human Sirt 1,2,3 genes much like caloric restriction does. Sirtris pharma is developing a synthetic version of transmax which it intends to have on the market in five years. In another study by Dr. Sinclair of Harvard published in the journal Nature in November transmax was shown to increase the life span of obese mammals by 31%. This is an exciting area of research and could lead to some revolutionary new preventative strategies and safer, less invasive treatments for a number of diseases.