Associations Between Health and Driving in an Older Adult Cohort in Rancho Bernardo.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify the associations between health and health care utilization with driving patterns in a cohort of older adults.

METHOD: In 2012, a total of 1,826 surviving participants in the Rancho Bernardo cohort were sent a health and driving pattern survey; 1,277 were returned.

RESULTS: The majority of the respondents (1,151, 91%) were still driving. Older age, female sex, hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits and physical therapy visits, neurological disease, depression, limited vision, and limited hearing were associated with non-driving status. A total of 809 (71%) of drivers reported no citations or crashes in the last 5 years.

DISCUSSION: The vast majority of older drivers in this cohort continued to drive, and did so safely. Health care utilization, medications, medical conditions, and self-assessment of health were associated with non-driving status. Prospective studies are needed to clarify the temporal relationships between these factors.