Background: Driving has not been considered as part of the social cost of acute illness and may go unnoticed in the post-hospital care of older adults. Decreases in driving after hospitalization and at-risk populations have not been investigated.
Objective: To determine the association between driving reduction and cessation and hospitalization in older adults by using nationally representative data.
Design: Retrospective cohort analysis.
Setting: Health and Retirement Study survey from 2004 to 2014.
Participants: Adults aged 65 years and older who were able to drive and had an available car (n = 12,110; 40,364 interviews).
Measurements: Self-report of a hospitalization requiring an overnight stay, changes in driving patterns including driving cessation or limitations over a 2-year period, comorbid conditions, health utilization, and behaviors.
Results: Of hospitalizations in adults aged 65 years and older, 22% were associated with a decrease in driving patterns within 2 years. The relative risk of a reduction or cessation in driving was 1.62 (95% CI: 1.54, 1.70, p < 0.001) when there was a hospitalization compared with when a hospitalization did not occur. Baseline functional, cognitive, and visual impairment, fair or poor self-rated health, and diabetes were identified as independent risk factors for decreased driving patterns after hospitalization.
Conclusions: Changes in driving patterns are common after a hospitalization in older adults. The findings suggest that driving, although not a current goal of post-hospital care, is important to the continued autonomy and community mobility of older adults and needs to be addressed as part of discharge planning and their recovery.
Keywords: driving; hospitalization; older adults.
© 2021 The American Geriatrics Society.