euro-dementia-care-2017-posters-abstracts

Page 59

Volume 7, Issue 4(Suppl)

J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism, an open access journal

ISSN: 2161-0460

Euro Dementia Care 2017

September 18-19, 2017

Dementia and Dementia Care

September 18-19, 2017 Dublin, Ireland

International Conference on

J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 2017, 7:4(Suppl)

DOI: 10.4172/2161-0460-C1-028

Driving Behavior in patients with MCI/mild Dementia

Sokratis G Papageorgiou

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

riving is a multimodal activity that integrates a variety of cognitive resources and is associated with higher self-esteem and

increased quality of life. Research evidence from on-road and driving simulator studies demonstrate that persons with mild

dementia often make driving errors and are involved in road fatalities although certain patients may retain adequate driving skills.

Existing literature for MCI patients is sparse and does not indicate a consistently worse overall driving performance in comparison

to healthy drivers. Most studies have demonstrated only moderate relationships between cognitive performance and driving ability.

Thus, an individualized approach that integrates both the administration of neuropsychological scales as well as a comprehensive

neurological assessment is needed. Our current research focuses at the exploration of driving behaviour in individuals with MCI/

mild Dementia by applying a driving simulator experiment. Our findings suggest that certain measures of motor coordination and

cognition (i.e. working memory, visuospatial memory, information processing speed and psychomotor vigilance) could serve as

predictors on a variety of driving indexes (i.e accident risk, reaction time, average driving speed, lateral position). Additionally, quality

of sleep and depressive symptomatology seem to be useful predictors of driving behavior in drivers with MCI. Driving under the

effect of distractors (i.e. use of mobile phone or conversing with a passenger) significantly affects driving performance of individuals

with MCI. Finally, according to our results patients with MCI and mild AD present significant difficulties to accurately estimate their

driving performance in comparison to a group of healthy elderly drivers.