Mild Cognitive Impairment and Driving Habits

Introduction: In everyday clinical practice physicians, psychologists and occupational therapists often discuss with patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) about safe driving. They try also to determine the ability of a person with Cognitive Impairment to drive. The aim of this study was to examine the behaviour of elder drivers with MCI compared with healthy elderly and define their differences in driving habits. Methods: We identified consecutive 60 participants, 44 patients with MCI and 16 Healthy Controls. All the participants were assessed with a neuropsychological battery: Mini Mental State Examination-MMSE, Clock-drawing Test, Functional Rating Scale of Symptoms of Dementia (FRSSD) scores and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and a driving questionnaire containing 33 questions with 52 sub-questions. Results: The 92.3% of patients with MCI renewed their driving licence compared to 60% of normal subjects (χ 2 (1)=4.403, p=0.036). Considering only those participants who still drive, normal subjects drive more kilometres per month than patients with MCI (χ 2 (5)=12.767, (p=0.026). Conclusions: Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment realize their difficulty in driving and drive fewer miles, however, they renew their license for fear of losing this ability.