Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Adopting certain driving habits as you age may be an early warning sign Alzheimer’s disease, research suggests.
People’s experiences with GPS tracking devices revealed cognitive decline Start driving less, especially at night, and prefer well-known routes.
This driving data proved to be more effective in identifying people who are at risk of cognitive decline relative to age Memory test alone, the researchers said.
In-vehicle driving data could highlight people who are at risk of cognitive decline and experts say it could be better than relying solely on age and memory tests – helping to identify changes in the brain before any accidents occur.
“Early identification of old drivers “Identifying people who are at risk for crashes is a public health priority, but identifying those who are vulnerable is challenging and time-consuming,” said study author Dr. Ganesh Babulal, at the Washington University School of Medicine.
“We found that by using GPS data tracking devices, we could more accurately determine who developed cognitive problems than just looking at factors such as age, cognitive test scores and whether they had a genetic risk factor related to Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Ganesh said.
For the study, published in the journal neurology56 people with mild cognitive impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease, and 242 cognitively healthy people with an average age of 75 took thinking skills tests and had a data tracking device installed on their vehicles.
All participants drove at least once a week at the beginning of the study, then were tracked for more than three years.
The participants’ driving patterns were similar at the beginning of the study, but over time the older adults with mild cognitive impairment began driving less each month, taking mostly the same routes and not driving at night as often.
The average distance of participants’ trips, how often they went over the speed limit and how often they changed their daily routine helped predict whether a participant developed mild cognitive impairment with 82 percent accuracy.
After adding factors such as age, demographics, their cognitive test scores and whether they had a gene linked to Alzheimer’s, the accuracy of predicting cognitive decline improved to 87 percent.
But when researchers just looked at cognitive tests and the Alzheimer’s gene without looking at any driving information, the accuracy was 76 percent.
“Looking at people’s daily driving behavior is a relatively low-burden, unobtrusive way to monitor people’s cognitive skills and ability to function,” said Dr. Babulal.
“This can help identify drivers who are at risk before a crash or crash occurs, which is too often the case. Of course, we also need to respect people’s autonomy, privacy and informed decision-making, and ensure ethical standards are met.”