Dec 10, 2025
3 min read
Among older adults, changes in driving patterns suggest that cognitive decline may help prevent cognitive decline and provide better road safety.
Changes in driving patterns may be an indicator of cognitive decline in older adults, a long-term study suggests.
Using driving data, researchers were able to predict the development of cognitive impairment (MCI) with 82% accuracy.Over 3 years, compared to those with normal experience, older adults with MCI went with fewer monthly trips, and did not deviate from many frequent items.
"We found that by using a GPS [global positioning system] data tracking device, we could more accurately identify who had cognitive problems than just looking at factors like age, cognitive test scores, and whether they have a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease," said principal investigator Ganesh M. Babulal, PhD, OTD, of the University of Washington School of Medicine.
The study was published online Nov. 26 in the journal Neurology.
New opportunities for early detection
In the US, the elderly make up about 20% of drivers.Additionally, approximately one-third of this population has cognitive impairment.Previous research has shown that those with early-stage dementia do worse on driving tests and have a greater risk of accidents.
Timely and scalable solutions to monitor the safety of this population of at-risk drivers, the researchers note, highlighting that recent developments in vehicle tracking technology can provide useful data to identify MCI.
To test this hypothesis, the researchers analyzed driving data from 298 participants (mean, 75.1 years; 45.6% female).Of these, 56 adults had MCI, the rest had normal cognition (NC).
Participants completed the Clinical Dementia Scale, a series of neuropsychological assessments, and were genotyped for the APOE epsilon 4 allele, a known risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.The researchers calculated the individual's Alzheimer Composite (PACC) based on results from a battery of standardized cognitive tests.
An in-vehicle GPS tracker recorded participants' driving behavior daily for up to 40 months, recording total trips, average distance, night driving, speeding episodes, and route variations.
Changes in long-term driving behavior were assessed using linear mixed models, adjusting for age, race, education, sex, and APOES Epsilon 4 status.Logistic regression with Receiver Operator's analysis was used to differentiate older adults from those with MCI and those with NC.
At baseline, the driving habits of the NC and MCI groups were similar.However, over time, adults with MCI made fewer trips per month (P < .001) and fewer overnight trips (P < .001).They also drove more familiar routes, as shown by statistically significantly lower random entropy, a measure of the unpredictability of the trip.
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"Looking at people's daily driving behavior is a relatively low-cost and unobtrusive way to monitor people's cognitive abilities and ability to function," Babulal said."This can help identify drivers who are at risk earlier for early intervention, before they have a crash or crash, which often happens now."
The researchers noted that the study's limitations included the fact that the majority of participants were predominantly white and highly educated, and that the data were not externally validated.
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging.See the full list of author interactions for the study.
