Examining the driving habits of older Canadians as captured by the COMPASS-ND study

Abstract

Background: Driving is associated with a sense of autonomy and good quality of life in older adults. However, older adults often change their driving habits, such as regulating how often, how far, and under what conditions (e.g., time of day, weather) they drive, in part due to changes in cognition. Our study describes data from the first large-scale Canadian cohort study to investigate differences in driving habits across cognitive groups, including cognitively healthy older adults(control), Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).
Method: We analyzed data from the Comprehensive Assessment of Neurodegeneration and Dementia study (COMPASS-ND, Chertkow et al., 2019), a population-based study of Canadians with various cognitive and functional abilities (May 2021 Data Release). The final sample analyzed included 317 participants (55% Females, Mean age =∼72).We report the responses for the following driving-related questions: licensing status (no longer have license, drive with or without restrictions), driving frequency, driving distance, and driving restrictions (e.g., bad weather).
Result: Most participants across all groups reported that they have a driver’s license without restrictions, including the AD group(AD: ∼61%,remaining groups: >90%).The following analyses only included current drivers. In terms of the frequency of driving
and the distance travelled, as expected, the AD group drove the least often and the shortest distances. The most frequent restriction types selected by all groups were bad weather and nighttime driving. The number of restriction types increased with the severity of cognitive decline. Interestingly, driving restrictions reported by the SCD group more closely approximated the cognitively impaired groups (MCI and AD) than the control group.
Conclusion: Although many of the AD group participants still had a license, they also reported the greatest number of driving restrictions. Further, the SCD group and MCI group were quite similar in their responses for several items, indicating that even SCD may be associated with differences in driving habits. Implications of driving-related limitations include reduced independence, socialization, participation, and access to resources (e.g., medical care, groceries).