LONDON - Pensioner motorists involved in car accidents should have their thinking ability tested in light of research showing that up to half of older drivers killed on the road have Alzheimer's disease, doctors said.
The disease causes forgetfulness, confusion, impaired judgment and bad co ordination. Dr Matti Viitanen, from Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden, and colleagues from Finland examined the brains of 98 drivers over the age of 65 who had died in car accidents. The study's authors, writing in the Lance-Medical journal, said the finding that up to 53 per cent off older drivers killed in accidents have actual or incipient Alzheimer's disease was "alarming".