Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate driving habits and related baseline characteristics in relation to the severity of primary-open angle glaucoma (POAG).
Methods :
All individuals were aged between 40-85 years old, who regularly drove over 1km throughout the year. We enrolled 218 POAG patients and 153 control subjects, with best corrected visual acuity over 0.7 bilaterally from three institutes in Japan. Each patient was asked if he or she had avoided driving at night. The POAG severity was graded as mild, moderate, or severe on the basis of the Hodapp-Anderson-Parrish scale. Multivariable odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for POAG was obtained by utilizing logistic regression analysis. Corresponding estimates of severity of POAG versus controls were obtained.
Results :
33% (73/218) of glaucoma patients and 28% (43/153) of controls had avoided driving at night. Subjects who were reluctant to drive at night were more likely to be old, female, and drive shorter distance. After adjusted for age, sex, and driving distance, the likelihood of driving cessation at night was statistically significantly associated with increased severity of visual field defects in both better and worse eyes [multivariable-adjusted OR (95% CI) for 1 increment of POAG severity in better and worse eyes: 1.23 (1.03-1.46), Ptrend = 0.02; 1.32 (1.08-1.61), Ptrend = 0.006; respectively). These trends appeared to be consistent in both women and men, although the statistical power was limited.
Conclusions :
Our current data provided that glaucomatous visual field defects were likely be associated with a greater limitation of driving at night. Additional studies were warranted to investigate the association between driving habits and glaucomatous visual filed change.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.