Physician and Family Discussions about Driving Safety: Findings from the LongROAD Study.
BACKGROUND
Older adult drivers may experience decreases in driving safety with age or health status change. Discussing driving safety may help them plan for driving restriction and eventual cessation. Here, we sought to examine conversations between older adults and their family members and physicians.


METHODS
In this multi-site cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the AAA Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (LongROAD) cohort study, we measured the prevalence and characteristics of family and physician driving discussions. We examined associations between having driving discussions and participant characteristics using multivariate logistic regression.


RESULTS
Of 2990 current drivers aged 65 to 79 years (53% female, 85.5% White), only 14.2% reported discussing driving safety with family and 5.5% had discussions with physicians. Men (adjusted OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.66) and those with Master's degrees or higher (adjusted OR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.27 to 2.13) more often had family discussions. Those with at least a Master's degree were also more likely to speak with their physician (adjusted OR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.17 to 2.68).


CONCLUSION
Few older adults had driving safety conversations with their family or physicians. Practical and effective interventions are needed to engage family and physicians in assisting older adults with risk assessment and driving cessation planning to maintain mobility and well-being.
['Betz|Marian E|ME|', 'Villavicencio|Leon|L|', 'Kandasamy|Deepika|D|', 'Kelley-Baker|Tara|T|', 'Kim|Woon|W|', 'DiGuiseppi|Carolyn|C|', 'Mielenz|Thelma J|TJ|', 'Eby|David W|DW|', 'Molnar|Lisa J|LJ|', 'Hill|Linda|L|', 'Strogatz|David|D|', 'Carr|David B|DB|', 'Li|Guohua|G|', '|||']
D000368:Aged D000375:Aging D001334:Automobile Driving D003142:Communication D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005190:Family D005260:Female D006304:Health Status D006801:Humans D008137:Longitudinal Studies D008297:Male D010817:Physician-Patient Relations D012449:Safety
Cohort Studies Risk Assessment Automobile Driving Communication Cross-Sectional Studies Logistic Models Physician-Patient Relations