ADHD in older adults heightens car crash risk

ADHD is a serious condition with symptoms such as inattentiveness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. These are commonly reported in children however when prolonged to adult life can have dire consequences.

In a study on the prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and its association with crash risk among older adult drivers, researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that older adult drivers with ADHD are at a significantly elevated crash risk compared with their counterparts without ADHD.

Outcomes included hard- braking events, and self-reported traffic ticket events, and vehicular crashes. Until now research on ADHD and driving safety was largely limited to children and young adults, and few studies assessed the association of ADHD with crash risk among older adults. The results are published online in JAMA Network Open.

Older adult drivers were more than twice as likely as their counterparts without ADHD to report being involved in traffic ticket events (22 versus 10 per million miles driven), and vehicular crashes (27 versus 13.5 per million miles driven).

Of the 2832 drivers studied, 75 (2.6 %) had ADHD. The prevalence of ADHD was 7.2% among older adults with anxiety or depression. With adjustment for demographic characteristics and comorbidities, ADHD was associated with a 7% increased risk of hard-braking events, a 102% increased risk of self-reported traffic ticket events, and a 74% increased risk of self-reported vehicular crashes.

“The research fills a gap in epidemiologic data on ADHD among older adults and provides compelling evidence that older adult drivers with ADHD have a much higher crash risk than their counterparts without ADHD."

Reference: Yuxin Liu, Stanford Chihuri, Thelma J. Mielenz, Howard F. Andrews, Marian E. Betz, Carolyn DiGuiseppi, David W. Eby, Linda L. Hill, Vanya Jones, Lisa J. Molnar, David Strogatz, Guohua Li. Motor Vehicle Crash Risk in Older Adult Drivers With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. JAMA Network Open, 2023; 6 (10): e2336960 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.36960