CONTEXT: A different approach to spotting early onset dementia, utilising driving behaviour from a 4 year period in the US. As a long-term advocate of better diagnostic tools in dementia generally, I can’t help feeling that we already have a number of very good quality, highly sensitive computer batteries for this very thing – also needing verification / validation / adoption in clinical trials so we can move away from subjective scores as a basis for new drug approval.
IMPACT: Low
READ TIME: 3 mins
Quality Level Mean [1 – 10]: 5
1. ““Our study indicates that naturalistic driving behaviors can be used as comprehensive and reliable markers for mild cognitive impairment and dementia.”
2. “Driving behaviors and demographic factors can help to accurately detect early mild cognitive impairment and dementia in older adults, according to engineers and public health researchers from Columbia University in New York City.”
3. ““Based on variables derived from the naturalistic driving data and basic demographic characteristics … we could predict mild cognitive impairment and dementia with 88% accuracy,” said lead author Sharon Di, Ph.D., associate professor of civil engineering and engineering mechanics.”
4. ““If validated, the algorithms developed in this study could provide a novel, unobtrusive screening tool for early detection and management of mild cognitive impairment and dementia in older drivers,” Li concluded.”
5. “Study data were gleaned from the Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (LongROAD) project, a multisite cohort study sponsored by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety from 2015 to 2019.”