Abstract
Objective:
To investigate the association between cognition, gait speed and the result of vehicle habilitation of elderly candidates for the National Driver's License.
Methods:
Quantitative cross-sectional study developed in 12 traffic agencies in Curitiba, state of Paraná, Brazil. The probabilistic sample consisted of 421 elderly people (≥ 60 years). The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), gait speed testing and consultations to forms of the National Qualified Drivers Registration were used for data collection. The relationship between variables was identified through the multiple linear regression test, stepwise method, using the statistical program R, version 3.4.0.
Results:
When increasing a unit in the MMSE score, the chance of the elderly person being considered as temporarily unfit to drive decreased by 54.96% (95% CI; 28.47% - 92.69%I; p<0.0001). When increasing a unit in the MMSE score, there was an increase in gait speed (GS) of 0.0091 (95% CI: 0.0005 - 0.0174; p=0.0366).
Conclusion:
The high MMSE score decreased the probability of the elderly participant being considered temporarily unfit to drive motor vehicles. There was a trend of higher GS with the increase in MMSE scores. As GS is an important indicator to be assessed in elderly drivers, this topic should be included in evaluations of traffic agencies, as well as cognitive screening, which is essential to assess a set of mental activities necessary for safe driving.
Keywords
Cognition; Walking speed; Automobile driver examination; Automobile driving; Aged