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. 2013 Mar;28(2):185-94.
doi: 10.1177/1533317512473192. Epub 2013 Jan 11.

Visuospatial and Attentional Abilities Predict Driving Simulator Performance Among Older HIV-infected Adults

J M Foley  1 , A L Gooding, A D Thames, M L Ettenhofer, M S Kim, S A Castellon, T D Marcotte, J R Sadek, R K Heaton, W G van Gorp, C H Hinkin
Affiliations

Visuospatial and Attentional Abilities Predict Driving Simulator Performance Among Older HIV-infected Adults

J M Foley et al. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2013 Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the effects of aging and neuropsychological (NP) impairment on driving simulator performance within a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected cohort.

Methods: Participants included 79 HIV-infected adults (n = 58 > age 50, n = 21 ≤ 40) who completed a NP battery and a personnel computer-based driving simulator task. Outcome variables included total completion time (time) and number of city blocks to complete the task (blocks).

Results: Compared to the younger group, the older group was less efficient in their route finding (blocks over optimum: 25.9 [20.1] vs 14.4 [16.9]; P = .02) and took longer to complete the task (time: 1297.6 [577.6] vs 804.4 [458.5] seconds; P = .001). Regression models within the older adult group indicated that visuospatial abilities (blocks: b = -0.40, P <.001; time: b = -0.40, P = .001) and attention (blocks: b = -0.49, P = .001; time: b = -0.42, P = .006) independently predicted simulator performance. The NP-impaired group performed more poorly on both time and blocks, compared to the NP normal group.

Conclusions: Older HIV-infected adults may be at risk of driving-related functional compromise secondary to HIV-associated neurocognitive decline.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00675766.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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