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Age and Ageing Advance Access originally published online on March 24, 2007
Age and Ageing 2007 36(4):389-394; doi:10.1093/ageing/afm032
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Copyright © The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society.

Health conditions, health symptoms and driving difficulties in older adults

Holly A. Tuokko1,, Ryan E. Rhodes2 and Rachel Dean1,2

1 Centre on Aging, Sedgewick Building Rm A104, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada
2 Associate Professor, Behavioural Medicine Laboratory, Faculty of Education, University of Victoria, PO Box 3010 STN CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 3N4, Canada

Address correspondence to: H. A. Tuokko. Tel: (250) 721-6576; Fax: (250) 721-6499. Email: htuokko{at}uvic.ca

Objectives: previous research has indicated that age-related medical or health conditions can affect driving performance in older adults but little, if any, research has examined the mechanisms through which health conditions affect driving difficulties in older adults.

Design: cross-sectional, correlational study.

Setting: random sample from the community. We examined the nature of the relations among health conditions, health-related symptoms, physical fitness levels and specific types of self-reported driving difficlties in a andom sample of older adults.

Participants: three hundred eighteen adults 60 years of age or older.

Intervention: None.

Measurements: general health, health-related symptoms, driving-related difficulties and physical activity.

Results: our findings support the position that health-related symptoms are more clearly associated with driving difficulties than are health conditions, and mediate the relations between health conditions and driving difficulties. Health-related symptoms involving the spine and lower body appeared to be particularly relevant to difficulties with driving experienced in those body areas (i.e. spine and lower body).

Conclusion: these findings are encouraging, in that the most frequently reported symptoms are in areas highly amenable to modification and, in that most of our respondents indicated a willingness to engage in exercise if an association between fitness and driving was demonstrated.

Keywords: driving, symptoms, physical activity, exercise programmes, spine, elderly

Received 29 May 2006; accepted in revised form 8 February 2007.


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