Older drivers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at particularly higher risk of being in an accident than their counterparts who do not. Until now, studies on ADHD and driving protection have been largely limited to youth and young adults, and few studies have evaluated the prevalence and its relationship to accident threat among older drivers.
These are the findings of a new study announced Wednesday by researchers at Columbia University School of Public Health and published online in JAMA Network Open.
“Our findings recommend that effective interventions for the diagnosis and clinical management of ADHD in older adults are warranted to promote safe mobility and healthy aging,” Yuxin Liu, first author of the study, said in a statement.
ADHD is a chronic neurodevelopmental disorder whose symptoms come with inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. It’s sometimes considered a formative years disorder, the researchers noted, but it can persist into adulthood and daily function in older adults. The reported prevalence of ADHD in adults has increased in recent years due to a breakthrough in diagnosis, they added. In general, the prevalence of ADHD decreases with age.
The study, “Risk of Car Accidents in Older Adult Drivers with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,” which looked at harsh braking, self-reported tickets, and car accidents, found that older adult drivers were more than twice as many. probably their counterparts without ADHD say they are worried about suffering injuries and receiving fines related to driving.
ADHD was associated with a 7% higher risk of harsh braking events, but a 74% higher risk of self-reported crashes and a 102% higher risk of self-reported traffic ticket events.
The researchers gathered insights from leading care clinics and residential communities at five U. S. sites. USA: Ann Arbor, Michigan; Baltimore, Maryland; Cooperstown, New York; Denver, Colorado; and San Diego, California between July 2015 and March 2019.
Study participants were drivers aged 65 to 79 who drove and enrolled in the Longitudinal Research Project on Elderly Drivers (LongROAD) for up to 44 months using in-vehicle knowledge recording devices and annual assessments. Data research was conducted between July 2022 and August 2023.
The LongROAD project was introduced in 2014 to understand and meet the mobility needs of older drivers.
“Our study makes two remarkable contributions to studies on health and aging,” Guohua Li, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and senior author, said in a statement. “The studies fill a gap in epidemiological knowledge about ADHD in older adults and provide compelling evidence that older drivers with ADHD are at a much higher risk of being crashed than their counterparts without ADHD. “
Previously, Dr. Li and colleagues had shown that fitness deteriorates when older adults avoid driving, and earlier this year, the team reported that driving knowledge captured through in-car recording devices are valid and reliable numerical markers for predicting mild cognitive impairment and dementia. noted the authors of the latest study.
“There are 48 million senior drivers in the U. S. ,” Dr. Li added. “As the population ages, that figure is expected to reach 63 million by 2030. The data from the historic LongROAD task will allow us to read about the role of medical, behavioral, environmental and technological points in road protection and the aging process.
For more information, click here; For the full study, click here.