These individuals may be at greater risk of accidents because of slower reaction time and speed of processing visual information, according to research reported in the April 24 issue of Neurology .
Most people can see how physical factors can affect driving performance.
All subjects were under age 55 and had a valid driver's license. Response time to conditions resembling those in typical traffic was about 1.7 seconds slower in the MS patients with mental impairment. More than one-third were at moderate to high risk for driving accidents, even though they did not have significant physical limitations. If there are concerns about driving competence, these should be addressed by appropriate individual assessment. Future studies should examine greater numbers of patients in real-life driving situations, according to Massimo Filippi, MD, who also provided WebMD with an objective assessment of the study.