Cognitive deficits are associated with poorer simulated driving in older adults with heart failure

BMC Geriatrics

Research Article

Mary Jo Cleveland¹  Mary Beth Spitznagel²  John Gunstad²  Michael L Alosco² 

[1] Center for Senior Health, Summa Health System, Akron, OH, USA;Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA;

关键词: Driving simulation;    Heart failure;    Cognitive function;    Driving ability;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2318-13-58

 received in 2013-01-28, accepted in 2013-05-31,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCognitive impairment is prevalent in older adults with heart failure (HF) and associated with reduced functional independence. HF patients appear at risk for reduced driving ability, as past work in other medical samples has shown cognitive dysfunction to be an important contributor to driving performance. The current study examined whether cognitive dysfunction was independently associated with reduced driving simulation performance in a sample of HF patients.Methods18 persons with HF (67.72; SD = 8.56 year) completed echocardiogram and a brief neuropsychological test battery assessing global cognitive function, attention/executive function, memory and motor function. All participants then completed the Kent Multidimensional Assessment Driving Simulation (K-MADS), a driving simulator scenario with good psychometric properties.ResultsThe sample exhibited an average Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 27.83 (SD = 2.09). Independent sample t-tests showed that HF patients performed worse than healthy adults on the driving simulation scenario. Finally, partial correlations showed worse attention/executive and motor function were independently associated with poorer driving simulation performance across several indices reflective of driving ability (i.e., centerline crossings, number of collisions, % of time over the speed limit, among others).ConclusionThe current findings showed that reduced cognitive function was associated with poor simulated driving performance in older adults with HF. If replicated using behind-the-wheel testing, HF patients may be at elevated risk for unsafe driving and routine driving evaluations in this population may be warranted.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Alosco et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013