User menu

Accès à distance ? S'identifier sur le proxy UCLouvain

Visual acuity and factors influencing automobile driving status in 1,000 patients age 60 and older

Primary tabs

Levecq, Laurent [UCL] De Potter, Patrick [UCL] Jamart, Jacques [UCL]

BACKGROUND: The objective of this prospective observational study was to evaluate the number of people driving in accordance with common legal standards, measured through far binocular visual acuity, and to identify variables associated with driving habits outside of legal standards. METHODS: Subjects aged 60 years and older were recruited at a tertiary referral center (University Hospital of Mont-Godinne, Yvoir, Belgium). Ophthalmological examination was conducted in all subjects by an ophthalmologist. Visual acuity was measured with the modified Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy charts at a distance of 4 m on each eye for far binocular visual acuity, defined as equal or better than 20/40, according to the European legal driving requirements. Details on demographic, socioeconomic, and medical characteristics were obtained from all participants by questionnaires. Numerical variables were compared with the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Categorical and ordinal parameters were compared with the Chi-square test or the Cochran test respectively. RESULTS: One thousand subjects (447 women and 553 men) were enrolled in the study over a period of 7 months (mean age: 71.3 ± 8.8 years), of whom 810 were current drivers. Among the 810 current drivers, 732 (90.4 %) had a far binocular visual acuity equal or better than 20/40 (mean 0.89), and 78 (9.6 %) did not (mean 0.36). Among the 190 non-drivers, 94 (49.5 %) never drove; 47 (24.7 %) had stopped driving because of their impaired vision; and 49 (25.8 %) had stopped driving for other reasons. A logistic regression was performed to identify the variables statistically associated with the practice of driving among licensed drivers without minimal visual requirements, which revealed that a non-recent ophthalmological examination (p < 0.001), the subject's non-perception of impaired vision (p = 0.001), and non-access to stores without a car (p < 0.001) were influencing factors. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, 81 % of subjects aged 60 years and older were still driving, of whom 10 % did not meet the European legal driving requirements set at equal or better than 20/40. The variables associated with driving status were the time of last examination, non-perception of a visual impairment, and limited access to stores without a car.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès restreint
Publication date 2013
Language Anglais
Journal information "Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology" - Vol. 251, no. 3, p. 881-887 (2013)
Publisher Springer ((Germany) Heidelberg)
issn 0721-832X
e-issn 1435-702X
Publication status Publié
Affiliations UCL - SSS/IONS/NEUR - Clinical Neuroscience
UCL - (SLuc) Service d'ophtalmologie
UCL - SSS/IREC/MONT - Pôle Mont Godinne
UCL - (MGD) Service d'ophtalmologie
UCL - (MGD) Unité de support scientifique
Keywords Visual acuity ; Automobile driving ; Visual impairment ; Aging population ; Legal driving
Links
  1. Desapriya E, Wijeratne H, Subzwari S, Babul-Wellar S, Turcotte K, Rajabali F, Kinney J, Pike I (2011) Vision screening of older drivers for preventing road traffic injuries and fatalities. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 16(3):CD006252
  2. Trick Lana M., Toxopeus Ryan, Wilson David, The effects of visibility conditions, traffic density, and navigational challenge on speed compensation and driving performance in older adults, 10.1016/j.aap.2010.04.005
  3. Li Shu-Chen, Hämmerer Dorothea, Müller Viktor, Hommel Bernhard, Lindenberger Ulman, Lifespan development of stimulus-response conflict cost: similarities and differences between maturation and senescence, 10.1007/s00426-008-0190-2
  4. MacDonald Stuart W. S., Li Shu-Chen, Bäckman Lars, Neural underpinnings of within-person variability in cognitive functioning., 10.1037/a0017798
  5. Owsley Cynthia, The Vision and Driving Challenge : , 10.1097/wno.0b013e3181e2d045
  6. WHO/OMS (1997) Blindness and visual disability, Part V of VII: seeing ahead – projections into the next century, Fact Sheet No. 146, February
  7. McGwin Gerald, Khoury Rita, Cross Jennifer, Owsley Cynthia, Vision Impairment and Eye Care Utilization among Americans 50 and Older, 10.3109/02713681003664931
  8. Barr RA (2002) More road to travel by: Implications for mobility and safety in late life. Gerontechnology 2:50–54
  9. Ross Lesley A., Anstey Kaarin J., Kiely Kim M., Windsor Tim D., Byles Julie E., Luszcz Mary A., Mitchell Paul, Older Drivers in Australia: Trends in Driving Status and Cognitive and Visual Impairment : OLDER DRIVERS: RESEARCH DIRECTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS, 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2009.02439.x
  10. National Disability Authority (2004) Towards best practice in provision of transport services for people with disabilities in Ireland. NDA, Dublin
  11. Freund Barbara, Szinovacz Maximiliane, Effects of Cognition on Driving Involvement Among the Oldest Old, 10.1093/geront/42.5.621
  12. Ross L. A., Clay O. J., Edwards J. D., Ball K. K., Wadley V. G., Vance D. E., Cissell G. M., Roenker D. L., Joyce J. J., Do Older Drivers At-Risk for Crashes Modify Their Driving Over Time?, 10.1093/geronb/gbn034
  13. Keeffe J E, Vision impairment and older drivers: who's driving?, 10.1136/bjo.86.10.1118
  14. Subzwari S, Desapriya E, Babul-Wellar S, Pike I, Turcotte K, Rajabali F, Kinney J (2009) Vision screening of older drivers for preventing road traffic injuries and fatalities. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 21(1):CD006252
  15. Commission Directive 2009/113/EC of 25 August 2009 amending Directive 2006/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on driving licenses ( http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32009L0113:EN:NOT ) (Access date: 15 March 2012)
  16. Source Service Public Fédéral Economie http://statbel.fgov.be/fr/statistiques/chiffres/population/structure//agesex (Access date: 15 May 2012)
  17. Murray CJL, Lopez AD (1996) Alternative visions of the future: projecting mortality and disability, 1990-2020. In: Murray CJL, Lopez A (eds.) The global burden of disease: a comprehensive assessment of mortality and disability from diseases, injuries, and risk factors in 1990 and projected to 2020. Harvard University Press on behalf of the World Health Organization and the World Bank, Cambridge MA, pp 325-395
  18. Fournié P., Ponchel C., Ancele E., Arné J.L., Conduite automobile et aptitude visuelle chez 100patients âgés de plus de 60ans, 10.1016/s0181-5512(06)70111-5
  19. Marottoli Richard A., de Leon Carlos F. Mendes, Glass Thomas A., Williams Christianna S., Cooney Leo M., Berkman Lisa F., Tinetti Mary E., Driving Cessation and Increased Depressive Symptoms: Prospective Evidence from the New Haven EPESE, 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1997.tb04508.x
  20. Anstey Kaarin J., Windsor Timothy D., Luszcz Mary A., Andrews Gary R., Predicting Driving Cessation over 5 Years in Older Adults: Psychological Well-Being and Cognitive Competence Are Stronger Predictors than Physical Health : PREDICTORS OF DRIVING CESSATION, 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2005.00471.x
  21. Kostyniuk Lidia P., Shope Jean T., Driving and alternatives: Older drivers in Michigan, 10.1016/j.jsr.2003.09.001
  22. Gallagher Bláithín A. M., Hart Patricia M., O'Brien Colm, Stevenson Michael R., Jackson Andrew J., Mobility and access to transport issues as experienced by people with vision impairment living in urban and rural Ireland, 10.3109/09638288.2010.516786
Bibliographic reference Levecq, Laurent ; De Potter, Patrick ; Jamart, Jacques. Visual acuity and factors influencing automobile driving status in 1,000 patients age 60 and older. In: Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology, Vol. 251, no. 3, p. 881-887 (2013)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/124016