Driving Habits can Hint at Early-Stage Alzheimer's

A new study has found that driving habits can hint at early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

Conducted in Washington State, in the United States, a total of 139 drivers over the age of 65 were observed during a 365-day period, according to the BBC.

Prior to the study, medical tests had already found that approximately half of the drivers had very early or preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease.

The purpose of the trial was to find out if driving habits could act as an indicator of the early stages of the disease, and this has been proven, negating the need for invasive or expensive medical procedures.

The researchers fitted GPS trackers on to the vehicles of the participants to gather detailed information about their driving habits.

Those with the early onset were prone to drive more slowly, make abrupt changes, travel less at night, and logged fewer miles. They were also more likely to stick to confined routes more often than those without the condition.

“How people move within their daily environments, ranging from the places they visit to how they drive, can tell us a lot about their health,” said Sayeh Bayat, one of the leads of the study.

“Using these very few indicators…you can really, with very high confidence, identify whether a person has preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease or not.”

The subsequent model designed was 86% accurate when forecasting a person’s likelihood to have the condition.

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