Apples for Health- Test helps evaluate Alzheimer's driving

Test helps evaluate Alzheimer's driving

IOWA CITY, Iowa, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. doctors say off-road tests may help determine whether a person with Alzheimer's disease can drive safely.

The research, published in Neurology, finds drivers with Alzheimer's disease who performed better on off-road tests made fewer on-road safety errors.

"The goal is to prevent crashes while still maximizing patients' rights and freedom to be mobile," study author Jeffrey Dawson of the University of Iowa said in a statement. "By measuring driver performance through off-road tests of memory, visual and motor abilities, we may be able to develop a standardized assessment of a person's fitness to drive."

In the study, 40 drivers with early Alzheimer's disease and 115 elderly drivers without the diagnosis underwent a combination of off-road tests that measured thinking, movement and visual skills, and took a 35-mile route driving test evaluated by a driving expert.

The research found drivers with Alzheimer's disease committed an average of 42 driving safety mistakes -- 27 percent more than the average of 33 safety errors made by drivers without Alzheimer's disease.

For every additional five years of age a participant was, the number of safety errors went up by about two-and-a-half -- whether or not they had Alzheimer's disease.