Five-year change scores in old age for six neuropsychological tests and normative data for the Useful Field of View (UFOV) test: The influence of physical health.

Introduction: Neuropsychological assessment of cognitive change over time is often conducted in clinical settings, but whether neuropsychological change scores are influenced by physical health has, as far as we know, not been examined previously.

Method: In a sample of 153 older Swedish adults (age range, 72-86 years), we evaluated the influence of common age-related diseases, terminal decline pathology, age, education, and gender, to provide (a) preliminary test-specific regression weights and 90% confidence intervals to assess significant change in performance after five years on tests of visual scanning, mental shifting, visual spatial ability, memory, reaction time, and selective attention, and (b) normative data for the Useful Field of View test (UFOV) from a single testing occasion.

Results: Multiple regression analyses showed that test-retest changes were affected by physical health for mental shifting, visual spatial ability, memory, and reaction time, by age for mental shifting and visual reaction time, by education for visual spatial ability, and by Age × Education for auditory reaction time.

Assessment and Reporting of Driving Fitness in Patients with Dementia in Clinical Practice: Data from SveDem, the Swedish Dementia Registry.

Background: Driving constitutes a very important aspect of daily life and is dependent on cognitive functions such as attention, visuo-spatial skills and memory, which are often compromised in dementia. Therefore, the driving fitness of patients with dementia needs to be addressed by physicians and those that are deemed unfit should not be allowed to continue driving.

Objective: We aimed at investigating to what extent physicians assess driving fitness in dementia patients and determinant factors for revoking of their licenses.

Health-adjusted neuropsychological test norms based on 463 older Swedish car drivers.

There is a need for improved normative information in particular for older persons. The present study provides neuropsychological test norms on seven cognitive tests used in a sample representing the general older driving population, when uncontrolled and controlled for physical health. A group of 463 healthy Swedish car drivers, aged 65 to 84 years, participated in a medical and neuropsychological examination.

Older drivers: On-road and off-road test results.

Eighty-five volunteer drivers, 65-85 years old, without cognitive impairments impacting on their driving were examined, in order to investigate driving errors characteristic for older drivers. In addition, any relationships between cognitive off-road and on-road tests results, the latter being the gold standard, were identified. Performance measurements included Trail Making Test (TMT), Nordic Stroke Driver Screening Assessment (NorSDSA), Useful Field of View (UFOV), self-rating driving performance and the two on-road protocols P-Drive and ROA.

P-drive on-road: internal scale validity and reliability of an assessment of on-road driving performance in people with neurological disorders.

The aim of this study was to determine internal scale validity and reliability of P-Drive on-road by observing driving performance among people with neurological disorders. The study comprised a consecutive sample of 205 persons with stroke, dementia, or mild cognitive impairment who were remitted for and performed a standardized test in real traffic. Their driving abilities were evaluated with a new assessment tool, P-Drive on-road.

The Nordic stroke driver screening assessment as predictor for the outcome of an on-road test.

The use of the cognitive test battery Nordic Stroke Driver Screening Assessment (NorSDSA) has increased, sometimes as a stand-alone test to evaluate fitness to drive, also for non-stroke patients such as patients suffering from cognitive deficits/dementia, approaches that may be questioned. The objective of the study was to determine whether the NorSDSA could predict an on-road test result, for large sets of stroke (n=74) and cognitive deficits/dementia participants (n=116), respectively. The percentage of correctly classified was 62% for the stroke group and 50% for the cognitive deficits/dementia group.

Lived experience of driving ability following stroke.

Purpose: This study describes and expands our understanding of the lived-experience of driving ability after stroke in the context of being under a driving evaluation.

Method: Four men with stroke were interviewed on three occasions. The interviews were open-ended, taped and transcribed verbatim, and analysed using Karlsson's Empirical, Phenomenological and Psychological method.

A Swedish survey of occupational therapists' involvement and performance in driving assessments.

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which occupational therapists (OTs) are involved in driving assessments in Sweden and how these assessments are performed. A questionnaire was sent to 154 geriatric, rehabilitation, and neurological clinics, and additionally directly to 19 OTs who had purchased a test battery specifically used for driving assessments. The response rate was 60%.