United States Version of the Stroke Driver Screening Assessment: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background: Most stroke survivors who resume driving in the United States do so within the first year. More than 87% of these individuals resume driving without a formal evaluation of their fitness to drive because of the absence of standard practices and generally accepted and valid screening tools. The Stroke Driver Screening Assessment (SDSA) is an established battery for predicting stroke survivors’ driving performance but is not currently used in the United States. This pilot study investigated the predictive ability of the US version of the battery in a US-based cohort of stroke survivors. Method: Fifteen first-ever stroke survivors (age, 52±12 years) and 16 healthy adults (age, 40±16 years) were administered the US version of the SDSA in a standardized format. Performance on the SDSA was compared with driving performance in a high-fidelity driving simulator. Results: Stroke and healthy participants’ driving performance was predicted with 87% and 88% accuracy, respectively. Conclusion: The US version of the SDSA battery has the potential to be a good predictor of driving performance of mildly impaired stroke survivors. Larger studies are needed to further establish its predictive accuracy.