@article{ref1,
title="Effect of Simulator Training on Fitness-to-Drive After Stroke: A 5-Year Follow-up of a Randomized Controlled Trial",
journal="Neurorehabilitation and neural repair",
year="2010",
author="Devos, Hannes and Akinwuntan, Abiodun Emmanuel and Nieuwboer, Alice and Ringoot, Isabelle and Van Berghen, K. and Tant, Mark and Kiekens, Carlotte and De Weerdt, Willy",
volume="24",
number="9",
pages="843-850",
abstract="BACKGROUND: No long-term studies have been reported on the effect of training programs on driving after stroke. OBJECTIVES: The authors' primary aim was to determine the effect of simulator versus cognitive rehabilitation therapy on fitness-to-drive at 5 years poststroke. A second aim was to investigate differences in clinical characteristics between stroke survivors who resumed and stopped driving. METHODS: In a previously reported randomized controlled trial,83 stroke survivors received 15 hours of simulator training (n = 42) or cognitive therapy (n = 41). In this 5-year follow-up study, 61 participants were reassessed. Fitness-to-drive decisions were obtained from medical, visual, neuropsychological, and on-road tests; 44 participants (simulator group, n = 21; cognitive group, n = 23) completed all assessments. The primary outcome measures were fitness-to-drive decision and current driving status. RESULTS: The authors found that 5 years after stroke, 18 of 30 participants (60%) in the simulator group were considered fit to drive, compared with 15 of 31 (48%) in the cognitive group (P = .36); 34 of 61 (56%) participants were driving. Current drivers were younger (P = .04), had higher Barthel scores (P = .008), had less comorbidity (P = .01), and were less severely depressed (P = .02) than those who gave up driving. CONCLUSIONS: The advantage of simulator-based driving training over cognitive rehabilitation therapy, evident at 6 months poststroke, had faded 5 years later. Poststroke drivers were younger and less severely affected and depressed than nondrivers.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1545-9683",
doi="10.1177/1545968310368687",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1545968310368687"
}