Useful Field of View as a Reliable Screening Measure of Driving Performance in People With Parkinson's Disease: Results of a Pilot Study

Abstract

In this pilot study among PD patients, the UFOV may be a superior screening measure (compared to other measures of disease, cognition, and vision) for predicting on-road driving performance but its rigor must be verified in a larger sample of people with PD.

Parkinson disease and driving

“…From the 12 Class II studies, 11 studies found that drivers with PD had significantly worse driving performance (p , 0.05) than healthy controls. 5,7,8,[10][11][12][13][15][16][17]25 No definitive conclusions could be made for one study as a control group was not included for on-road driving. 30 Although most drivers with PD were considered safe to drive, deficits that may affect driving were apparent even in the early stages of PD.…”

“…30 Although most drivers with PD were considered safe to drive, deficits that may affect driving were apparent even in the early stages of PD. There were 6 studies that found a clinical battery predicted driving performance 5,10,12,13,17,30 while one study did not. 9 Variables that predicted driving performance also differed across studies, as shown in However, based on 2 Class II studies, 5,17 UPDRS motor scores during the practically defined "off" period were concluded to be probably predictive of driving performance.…”

“…Result. The review yielded 12 Class II studies 5,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][15][16][17]25,30 and 4 Class III studies. [31][32][33][34] Only 2/16 on-road studies utilized a certified driving rehabilitation specialist (CDRS) to conduct the on-road tests.…”

“…3,4 The ability to drive safely may be impaired even in the early stages of PD. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Prior studies show that associations exist between impaired driving performance and deficits of contrast sensitivity, 13,16 visual processing, 5,10,16,17 set-shifting, 8,10,11,13 and psychomotor speed. 5,[11][12][13]16 Epidemiologic data, however, are not well-established concerning crash rates in PD.…”

The effect of auditory distraction on the useful field of view in hearing impaired individuals and its implications for driving

“…Evidence has shown that UFOV performance predicts driving competence (Owsley et al 1998), vehicle crashes , Owsley et al 1998, and driver safety (Clay et al 2005). This evidence, and the fact that UFOV can be administered without specialist training in a short amount of time (Classen et al 2009), has led to suggestions that UFOV may be suitable as a tool to quickly and reliably identify at-risk drivers (Bédard et al 2008). This suggested predictive nature of UFOV is likely due to its hypothesised reliance on both visual sensory abilities and higher order attentional skills (Owsley, 1994).…”