The objective of this prospective matched-control study was to compare the Neurocognitive Driving Test (NDT) with an established driving assessment method. Participants were fifteen adult volunteers with acquired brain injury (ABI), aged 21–59 years, referred for a driving evaluation and 15 healthy control (HC) participants. Individuals with ABI were administered the NDT and a traditional hospital-based driving evaluation. An overall performance score was calculated and used to rank order driving ability. HCs were administered the NDT to establish NDT performance range. Main outcome measures were overall performance on the NDT; overall performance on a comprehensive hospital-based evaluation. Comparison of the rank orders of driving ability for participants with ABI revealed a significant Spearman correlation. NDT scores discriminated between individuals with ABI who passed the driving evaluation and those who failed. It is concluded that results help establish the potential utility of the NDT for evaluating driving ability in persons with ABI. (Author/publisher)
Abstract