Assessment of driving performance in patients with retinitis pigmentosa
J. P. Szlyk, K. R. Alexander, K. Severing and G. A. Fishman
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago Eye Center.
The driving performance of 21 subjects with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and
varying degrees of peripheral field loss was compared with the performance
of 31 normally sighted control subjects who did not differ statistically
from the subjects with RP in age, gender, years of driving experience, or
miles driven per year. Driving performance was assessed by self-reported
accident frequency and by an evaluation of performance on an interactive
driving simulator. A significantly greater proportion of individuals had
self-reported accidents in the RP group than in the normal group. Likewise,
a significantly greater proportion of subjects with RP than normal subjects
had accidents on the driving simulator. Logistic regression analyses
indicated that binocular horizontal field extent and binocular field area
significantly differentiated between those having no self-reported
accidents and those subjects with RP having one or more self-reported
accidents. Because the simulator indexes were correlated with visual field
measures for the subjects with RP, no additional information was
incorporated into the regression model by adding the simulator measures.
Therefore, our results indicate that visual field loss is a primary
correlate of automotive accidents in individuals with RP.
