Abstract
Purpose: This study aimed to assess driving capabilities in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) causing unilateral blindness or paracentral scotoma without vision deterioration. Methods: Of the 275 patients with AMD who responded to a questionnaire regarding car driving at Osaka University Hospital, we excluded 78 patients who answered that they had never driven. Finally, 197 patients were included (50 with bilateral and 142 with unilateral AMD). We investigated the relationship between the questionnaire findings and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA). Results: The mean age was 74.8 ± 6.9 years, and the mean BCVA in the right and left eyes were 0.48 and 0.47, respectively. A negative correlation was observed between the proportion of patients who stopped driving due to AMD and the vision in the worse eye (p < 0.0001); however, 66% of participants were still driving. Regardless of the BCVA, 84% of them wished to continue driving. Concerning perceived dangerous situations, all patients reported an oversight of people or signals and night driving; further, patients with unilateral and bilateral vision deterioration reported vision narrowness and difficulty with discerning signal colours, respectively. Conclusion: Despite the associated danger, patients with AMD continued driving. Close attention should be paid to the driving activities among patients with AMD, even if they have passed the relevant driving tests.
Highlights
Worldwide, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of visual impairment in older people [1,2,3,4]; it causes central scotoma development and impairs macular functions, which reduce visual acuity and contrast sensitivity [5,6,7,8]
Driving can be a crucial aspect of their daily life activities; many patients continue driving even during AMD treatment
The introduction of antivascular endothelial growth factor drugs has led to an increase in the number of patients driving after AMD diagnosis [9]
Summary
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of visual impairment in older people [1,2,3,4]; it causes central scotoma development and impairs macular functions, which reduce visual acuity and contrast sensitivity [5,6,7,8]. The increasingly ageing population will further increase the number of patients with AMD. The introduction of antivascular endothelial growth factor drugs has led to an increase in the number of patients driving after AMD diagnosis [9]. There is a need to determine driving-related risks among patients with AMD. Compared with healthy people, patients with glaucoma were observed to experience more inconvenience when driving [10,11]. They were likely to overlook stop signs and make operational errors in a driving simulator test [12,13]
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