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Background/aims: In the light of the restricted knowledge, our aim was to explore the frequency and correlates of driving status among the oldest old. Methods: Data came from the representative "Survey on quality of life and subjective well-being of the very old in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW80 +)" consisting of community-dwelling and institutionalized individuals ≥ 80 years residing in the most populous German state (North Rhine-Westphalia; n = 1,832 in the analytical sample, mean age: 86.5 years). The present driving status (no; yes, I drive myself; yes, as a passenger; yes, as driver and passenger) served as outcome measure. Results: Overall, 43.62% (95% CI 40.98–46.29%) of the individuals did not drive, whereas 30.12% (95% CI 27.75–32.59%) of the individuals drove by themselves, 20.97% (95% CI 18.91–23.20%) of the individuals drove as a passenger, and 5.29% of the individuals drove both (by themselves and as a passenger) (95% CI 4.16–6.71%). Multinomial logistic regressions showed, e.g., that being male (RRR: 0.13, 95% CI 0.09–0.18), younger age (RRR: 0.88, 95% CI 0.84–0.91), being married and living together with spouse (RRR: 1.48, 95% CI 1.08–2.02), living in a private household (RRR: 0.04, 95% CI 0.01–0.35), better self-rated health (RRR: 1.26, 95% CI 1.02–1.56), and lower functional impairment (RRR: 19.82, 95% CI 12.83–30.62) were positively associated with 'Yes, I drive myself' (compared to not driving a car). Discussion/conclusions: A sizable proportion of the individuals aged 80 years and above still drove by themselves. Less than half of the oldest old individuals did not drive. Moreover, our current study identified some correlates of driving status among individuals in latest life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is almost unknown whether the driving status is associated with HRQOL among individuals in highest age. Aims: Based on a multicenter prospective cohort study, the objective of this study was to examine whether the driving status is associated with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among the oldest old in Germany. Methods: Cross-sectional data from follow-up wave 9 (n = 544) were derived from the "Study on Needs, health service use, costs and health-related quality of life in a large sample of oldest-old primary care patients (85+)" (AgeQualiDe). Average age was 90.3 years (± 2.7; 86 to 101 years). The current driver status (no; yes) was used in our analysis. The EuroQoL EQ-5D questionnaire was used to assess HRQOL in this study. Results: Regression analysis showed that being a current driver was associated with the absence of problems in 'self-care' [OR 0.41 (95%-CI 0.17 to 0.98)], and 'usual activities' [OR 0.48 (0.26 to 0.90)], whereas it was not significantly associated with problems in 'pain/discomfort' [OR 0.82 (0.47 to 1.45)] and 'anxiety/depression' [OR 0.71 (0.36 to 1.39)]. Being a current driver was marginally significantly associated with the absence of problems in 'mobility' [OR 0.60 (0.34 to 1.06)]. While being a current driver was not associated with the EQ-VAS in the main model, it was positively associated with the driving status (β = 5.00, p <.05) when functional impairment was removed from the main model. Discussion: Our findings provide first evidence for an association between driving status and HRQOL among the oldest old. Conclusions: Future longitudinal studies are required to evaluate a possible causal relationship between driving status and HRQOL in very old individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents research which assessed habits of older drivers three months before driving evaluation in the U.S. The study was conducted to examine older people's driving habits before the mandatory driving cessation, which particularly focuses on self-reported driving habits of safe and unsafe driving. It found that although there is an association between driving habit and performance outcome, it does not predict whether the person is a safe driver.