Medical Conditions and Driving Research
The Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is collaborating with medical specialty areas at the hospital and the University of Pennsylvania to examine how certain medical conditions affect driving, including licensing, the learning to drive process, and crash risk. The goal is to us this knowledge to develop tailored approaches to help teens and young adults with epilepsy, congenital heart disease, mood disorders and other medical conditions learn to drive safely.
Researchers with CHOP's New Jersey Safety and Health Outcomes (NJ-SHO) Center for Integrated Data, Center for Autism Research, and Center for Management of ADHD are also working together to develop evidence-based resources to help teens and young adults with neurodevelopmental differences stay mobile, which may include learning to drive.
CIRP researchers are also conducting studies to determine return to drive protocols after injury or surgery to improve road safety as part of the Injury Rehab and Biomechanics Engineering team.
Medical Conditions and Driving Research Projects
- Driver's Licensure and Driving Outcomes Among Youths with Mood Disorders
In this retrospective cohort study of 1,879 youths with mood disorders and 84,294 without mood disorders using the New Jersey Safety and Health Outcomes (NJ-SHO) Data Warehouse, published in JAMA Network Open, researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that youths with mood disorders were 30% less likely to acquire a driver's license compared to their peers without mood disorders. Adolescents and young adults with mood disorders, which include both depressive and bipolar disorders, also had slightly higher overall crash rates at 12- and 48-months post-licensure (16% and 19% higher, respectively) and had double the rate of license suspensions (48 month aRR: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.53-2.49) compared to their peers without mood disorders. This research suggests the need to develop evidence-based training and education for youth who want to drive.
Read a blog post about the research.
Principal Investigators: Christopher E. Gaw, MD; Kristi Metzger, PhD; Allison E. Curry, PhD
Funding: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Investigating Driving Performance in Patients with Thyroid Issues
Researchers from the Pediatric Thyroid Center at CHOP are investigating whether teen drivers' thyroid levels impact driving performance. To find out, they are comparing clinical patients' driving performance and outcomes to a normative dataset. They hope to better understand how hyper- and hypo-thyroidism impact driving performance in order to inform interventions to ensure safety.
Principal Investigator: Andy J. Bauer, MD
Funding: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
- Driver Licensing and Motor Vehicle Crash Rates Among Young Adults with Amblyopia and Unilateral Vision Impairment
Amblyopia -- known as “lazy eye” -- and unilateral vision impairment (UVI) are two conditions that cause reduced vision in one eye and decreased depth perception, both important in driving. This study, published in the Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Opthalmology and Strabismus, found that young adults with these most common eye conditions were less likely to get licensed than those with no visual impairment. However, when licensed, neither of these conditions was associated with an elevated crash risk. Future studies can help address barriers to licensure for this group and how to enhance driving training to focus on the specific needs of this medical condition.
Read a blog post about the research.
Principal Investigators: Julia Baker, PhD; Melissa Pfeiffer, MPH; Allison E. Curry, PhD
Funding: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Simulated Driving Performance, Self-Reported Driving Behaviors, and Mental Health Symptoms in Adolescent Young Drivers
The Young Driver Safety Research team at CIRP collaborated with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing to examine how mental health symptoms related to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder, and depression affect teen driving behaviors. Their findings, published in Nursing Research, may help explain some of the factors related to crash risk in the first year of driving. Of the 60 newly licensed teens studied -- all from Pennsylvania and having their license for less than 90 days -- inattention was most associated with more driving errors, which include driving too fast, poor scanning and following vehicles too closely. Moreover, self-reported symptoms of hyperactivity and conduct disorder were related to more self-reported risky driving behaviors, which can include factors such as speeding, driving at night, and cell phone use while driving.
Read a blog post about the research.
Principal Investigator: Catherine C. McDonald, PhD, RN, FAAN
Funding: National Institutes of Health; Penn School of Nursing's Dorothy Mereness Endowed Research Fund
