Validation of the stroke drivers screening assessment for people with traumatic brain injury

• Published in: Brain injury Vol. 18; no. 8; p. 775
• Main Authors: Radford, K A, Lincoln, N B, Murray-Leslie, C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.08.2004
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Automobile Driver Examination; Automobile Driving - standards; Brain Injuries - psychology; Brain Injuries - rehabilitation; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - etiology; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Psychomotor Performance; Reproducibility of Results; Statistics, Nonparametric; Stroke - psychology
• ISSN: 0269-9052
• DOI: 10.1080/02699050310001657394

Cognitive impairments resulting from brain injury affect driving performance. The question of fitness to drive often arises during rehabilitation. Healthcare professionals need reliable criteria against which decisions about driving fitness can be made. Nouri et al. developed the Stroke Drivers Screening Assessment (SDSA), which was found predictive of on-road driving performance in stroke patients. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the SDSA, either alone or combined with other tests, predicted fitness to drive in brain injured people. Fifty-two participants were assessed on the SDSA plus additional cognitive tests. Their fitness to drive was examined on the public road. The SDSA predictions based on equations developed for stroke patients were not an accurate predictor of road test performance. Discriminant analysis was used to identify tests predictive of fitness to drive. Results indicated that a combination of the SDSA, the Stroop and the AMIPB Information Processing tasks correctly classified 87% of cases and may be useful predictors of driving fitness following brain injury. However, cross-validation on an independent sample of people with brain injury is required.