Citation

Ranchet M, Tant M, Akinwuntan AE, Morgan JC, Devos H. Gerontologist 2016; 57(5): 833-837.

Affiliation

Department of Physical Therapy, College of Allied Health Sciences, Augusta University, Georgia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/geront/gnw119

PMID

27496014

Abstract

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: We sought to investigate the agreement between medical and practical fitness-to-drive recommendations in active drivers with dementia. DESIGN AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, 68 patients underwent medical, visual, and road tests at an official center of the Belgian Road Safety Institute. Physicians provided medical fitness-to-drive recommendations using 1 of 3 categories (favorable, reserved, or unfavorable). On-road assessors used the same 3 categories to make practical fitness-to-drive recommendations. Agreement between the medical and practical fitness-to-drive recommendations was calculated using the percentage of agreement (p 0) and weighted kappa (k w).

RESULTS: Low agreement was found between physicians and on-road assessors regarding their fitness-to-drive recommendations (p 0 = 43%, k w = 0.11, p =.20). Compared with the on-road assessors, the physicians overestimated the fitness to drive of 24 (35%) patients and underestimated the fitness to drive of 15 (22%) patients. Patients who incurred more traffic violations were more likely to be overestimated than underestimated by the physician (p =.03). IMPLICATIONS: This study showed disagreements between the fitness-to-drive recommendations made by the physicians and the on-road assessors in more than half of drivers with dementia. Efforts need to be made to improve the communication between physicians and on-road assessors for joint decision making of fitness to drive in dementia.

© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Language: en