With age, many functions that affect driving ability may deteriorate, including muscle strength, reaction time, mobility, vision, and cognition (see TABLE 112-1). Muscle Strength and Reaction Time Decreased muscle strength, particularly decreased grip strength, can pose a problem. Dynamometric values of < 35 lb in the dominant hand should raise concern. An increased reaction time [...]
Functional assessment is usually considered more relevant than a medical diagnosis in determining a person’s fitness to drive. Nonethe-less, some conditions—such as coronary artery disease, neurologic disease, and diabetes mellitus—as well as the use of certain medications warrant special consideration Coronary Artery Disease Although the incidence of sudden cardiac events while driving accounts for < [...]
The failure to warn a patient of the dangers of driving while taking certain medications or the failure to advise a patient with brittle diabetes or epilepsy or another serious impairment not to drive could result in significant liability. Although the disclosure of a disability to appropriate authorities may violate confidentiality, it is sanctioned when [...]
The determination of normal laboratory values in the elderly is complicated by latent or overt disease, multisystem disease, physiologic and anatomic changes associated with aging, and the effect of diet and exercise. These factors exclude many elderly persons from serving as normal controls in determining reference values and confound the determination of age-adjusted normal values. [...]
