Back

Driving habits could indicate early signs of Alzheimer’s disease

21 July 2021

A study by the University of Toronto in Canada is investigating whether driving habits can indicate early signs of Alzheimer’s. 

The study, which monitored the driving habits of a group of 139 over-65s in Missouri for a one-year period left researchers confident that driving habits could indeed indicate early signs of the disease. 

Half of the group had been diagnosed with early or ‘preclinical’ Alzheimer’s disease before the study commenced, whilst the other half did not. 

Whilst examining the differences in driving behaviour between the two groups using GSP trackers, it was discovered that those with preclinical Alzheimer’s drove slower, made changes abruptly, were less likely to travel at night-time and drove fewer miles generally. 

Those with preclinical Alzheimer’s also tended to visit the same destinations and take the same routes regularly. 

Leader of the study, PhD candidate Sayeh Bayat of the University of Toronto said, "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.

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

The researchers were able to design an 86 per cent accurate model that could identify someone's likelihood of having preclinical Alzheimer's disease using their age and their GPS driving data. 

This is not the first time it has been suggested that driving habits could indicate early signs of Alzheimer’s – According to the US National Institute on Aging  family members might notice that their loved one is taking longer to complete a short journey, has been driving more erratically, or gets muddled over which pedal is which.

However, the model produced by researchers during this study could be a low-cost method for detecting early signs of Alzheimer’s. Of course, one barrier could be a reluctancy of older drivers to share their driving data.

We at Marshall Leasing take road safety very seriously and are dedicated to keeping our customers safe whilst on the road. We trust that you find this information of interest. 

Contract hire and fleet management

Marshall Leasing is a Bank of Ireland-owned business which offers a commercial and flexible approach to business contract hire, contract purchase, sale and leaseback for cars and LCVs fleets and management of purchased fleets.

If you would like to find out more about our contract hire and fleet management services, please get in touch with us at info@marshall-leasing.co.uk or by calling 01480 414541. Alternatively, please complete our contact form. 

Back