The impact of cognitive decline on driving safety and mobility in drivers with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) remains unclear. Therefore a cross-sectional study was carried out, to clarify the risk of elderly drivers with MCI compared to controls and to clarify whether MCI affects personal mobility on elderly drivers. 133 community-dwelling elderly drivers applied to baseline survey, 8 were excluded following exclusion criteria: (1) general cognitive impairment (MMSE < 21: n=1), and (2) driving cessation at baseline (n=7). And 125 participants were divided into control group (n=93) or MCI group (n=32). At baseline, participants were assessed individually cognitive and psychiatric state, driving-related risks based on performances of driving simulator (DS) and self-reported driving event (crashes, traffic citations, and unrecorded mistakes), driving behavior, and mobility. The frequency of traffic citation is larger in the control group compared to the MCI group, whereas there were no statistically significant differences between groups in a frequency of crashes and unrecorded driving mistakes. Both the number of miles driven/week and travel distance/week showed no different between groups, but the area of driving and travelling were reduced slightly in elderly drivers with MCI. Moreover, there were no statistically significant differences of DS performance between groups. These results support the finding from other studies showing that cognitive decline is associated with scale-down of personal mobility in elderly people. The current study could not demonstrate pronounced decline of driving ability in drivers with MCI. Prospective studies will need to clear driving-related risks in elderly drivers with MCI.
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