Background: The ability to drive is important for ensuring quality of life for many older adults. Glaucoma is\r\nprevalent in this age group and may affect driving. The purpose of this study is to determine if glaucoma and\r\nglaucomatous visual field (VF) loss are associated with driving cessation, limitations, and deference to another driver\r\nin older adults.\r\nMethods: Cross-sectional study. Eighty-one glaucoma subjects and 58 glaucoma suspect controls between age 60\r\nand 80 reported if they had ceased driving, limited their driving in various ways, or preferred another to drive.\r\nResults: Twenty-three percent of glaucoma subjects and 6.9% of suspects had ceased driving (p = 0.01). Glaucoma\r\nsubjects also had more driving limitations than suspects (2.0 vs. 1.1, p = 0.007). In multivariable models, driving\r\ncessation was more likely for glaucoma subjects as compared to suspects (OR = 4.0; 95% CI = 1.1-14.7; p = 0.03). The\r\nodds of driving cessation doubled with each 5 decibel (dB) decrement in the better-eye VF mean deviation (MD)\r\n(OR = 2.0; 95% CI = 1.4-2.9; p < 0.001). Glaucoma subjects were also more likely than suspects to report a greater\r\nnumber of driving limitations (OR = 4.7; 95% CI = 1.3-16.8; p = 0.02). The likelihood of reporting more limitations\r\nincreased with the VF loss severity (OR = 1.6 per 5 dB decrement in the better-eye VF MD; 95% CI = 1.1-2.4; p = 0.02).\r\nNeither glaucoma nor VF MD was associated with other driver preference (p > 0.1 for both).\r\nConclusions: Glaucoma and glaucomatous VF loss are associated with greater likelihood of driving cessation and\r\ngreater limitation of driving in the elderly. Further prospective study is merited to assess when and why people\r\nwith glaucoma change their driving habits, and to determine if their observed self-regulation of driving is adequate\r\nto ensure safety.
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