The Impact of Glaucoma Severity on Driving Difficulty

Abstract

 

Purpose:

 

To assess the impact of glaucoma and its severity on driving difficulty.

 

Methods:

 

Consecutive eligible patients aged 55-90 years with a confirmed glaucoma diagnosis and no other major ocular disease were enrolled and stratified using the Glaucoma Staging Scale of their best eye. Age- and gender-matched normal controls were also enrolled. Participants completed the NEI-VFQ 25 and selected questions from the Driving Habits questionnaire. We report on responses from the NEI-VFQ 25 driving subscale and 8 questions regarding driving difficulty over the past 3 months from the Driving Habits questionnaire. A Mantel-Haenszel test was performed to compare driving difficulty between normal controls and participants with mild, moderate, and advanced stages of glaucoma.

 

Results:

 

138 glaucoma and 51 normal participants were enrolled. 22 of 138 (16%) glaucoma and 0 of 51 (0%) normal participants had given up driving due to visual problems. 103 of 138 (75%) glaucoma (72.2 ± 7.6 years) and 46 of 51 (90%) normal participants (71.1 ± 7.5 years) were currently driving. A higher proportion of glaucoma participants compared to normals reported difficulty with 5 of 8 driving conditions: at night (69%), in the rain (50%), on high traffic roads (33%), on interstate highways (21%) and in rush hour traffic (21%). For these 5 driving conditions there was a significant increase in driving difficulty with increasing stage of glaucoma (Table).

 

Conclusions:

 

A higher proportion of glaucoma patients report driving cessation due to visual problems than normal controls. Among current drivers, patients with glaucoma experience greater difficulty driving at night, in the rain, in rush hour, on interstate highways and in high traffic than patients without glaucoma. Difficulty driving in these conditions increases with increasing severity of glaucoma.  

 

Keywords: quality of life • aging: visual performance • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence