Patients with Parkinson’s disease are usually advised to inform the driving licensing authority and their driving insurance company of the diagnosis. However, until a few years ago, Parkinson’s disease was not considered a major obstacle to safe driving until the advanced stages. This changed when in 1999 sudden onset sleep attacks in patients with Parkinson’s disease on dopaminergic drugs were first reported. This not only led to considerable concern about the safe use of dopaminergic drugs in patients who drive, but also to a flurry of studies investigating the frequency of the problem, the contributing factors, and the mechanism and types of drugs associated with it. However, while this remains an important issue, relatively little attention has been paid to the overall ability and competence of patients with Parkinson’s disease to drive a motor vehicle, unrelated to sleep attacks. (Author/publisher)
Abstract