This report examines the effect of chronic imbalance and/or dizziness on driving an automobile. Dizziness and imbalance complaints are among the most common reasons for doctors’ visits in the US, but we have not had reliable information on prevalence and associated factors. However, the 1994/1995 Disability Supplement (DS) to the National Health Interview Survey provides nationally representative data for functional and sensory impairments, including chronic imbalance and dizziness. The DS also included a one-year follow-up survey of subjects that inquired about driving habits. Based on the DS sampling weights, we estimate that 27 million Americans “seldom or never” drive and 2.6 million of them never drive because of health problems. Chronic imbalance was an associated condition for 420,000. After excluding subjects with serious difficulty seeing or who use a wheel chair, logistic regression was used to analyze associations. Chronic imbalance is related to seldom/never driving with an odds ratio (OR)=3.2 and 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.9–3.5. Limiting the outcome to “never drive due to health problems” revealed a smaller but highly significant association with chronic imbalance, OR=1.7, CI: 1.5–2.1. For never driving because of health problems, there was no association with chronic dizziness alone (without imbalance), OR=0.9, CI: 0.7–1.2. Stratifying by age and sex revealed the strongest associations are for young (18 to 44 years) males, OR=2.8, CI: 1.4–5.5, and young females, OR=2.9, CI: 1.7–4.8. The attributable risk estimate is 7.2% for chronic imbalance as the reason for never driving because of health.
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe health problems in the US that prevent people from driving motor vehicles; 2. Describe the prevalence of chronic impairments of balance and/or dizziness; 3. Determine the risk associated with chronic imbalance and/or dizziness for being unable to drive an automobile.
Keywords: Disability, Motor Vehicles
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.