The early stage of Alzheimer's disease is a reason to give up your driver's license
Dmitry Tselikov, "Kompyulenta"
Scientists are developing tests that should show when people with early stages of Alzheimer's disease should give up driving.
The problem is not only that it is not easy to make this decision, because not everyone can recognize their own dependence on other people in time. The difficulty is also connected with the fact that in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease is very difficult to diagnose.
The staff of the University of Iowa (USA), led by Professor Jeffrey Dawson, came up with a difficult exam: more than fifty kilometers through rural areas and city streets with busy traffic on a simulator made on the basis of a Ford Taurus car. The simulator records all the patient's actions, like the "black box" of an airbus.
During the experiment, 40 people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease, who have not yet refused a driver's license, and 115 elderly people who do not suffer from dementia got behind the wheel. The results reported by the journal Neurology were as follows: drivers with Alzheimer's disease made an average of 42 mistakes, the rest – 33 mistakes. The most common incorrect action was crossing the central centerline with going into the oncoming lane; in patients with Alzheimer's disease, it was 50% more common. As for just older drivers, with an increase in the age of the subjects by five years, the average number of errors increased by 2.5.
At the same time, scientists emphasize that some patients coped with the task at the same level as healthy drivers. Standard neuropsychological tests for multitasking helped to predict the behavior of the subjects on the road. For example, the participants of the experiment had to reproduce a geometric figure from memory or find a pattern in a sequence of numbers and letters. The one who coped with the tests better than the others showed himself better at the wheel, regardless of whether he is sick or healthy.
Based on this study, it is planned to develop simple tests that will allow district therapists to determine the moment when a patient should give up a driver's license.
According to the US National Institute of Aging, there are two million people in the country with early-stage Alzheimer's disease. Every year, 600 thousand Americans stop driving because of their deteriorating health. The number of older Americans driving will double by 2030 and exceed 70 million people.
Prepared by the Associated Press.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru08.04.2009