Giving up driving was associated with an increase in depressive symptoms among older adults
Objective
To determine whether an association exists between giving up driving and increased depressive symptoms among older adults.
Design
Cohort study.
Setting
Urban, community based study in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Participants
1316 non-institutionalised men and women ≥ 65 years of age drawn from the cohort of the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly programme who were alive at the seventh annual follow up interview in 1989.
Assessment of risk factors
In the 1989 follow up interview, participants were asked if they were still driving a car or if they had ever driven, but stopped. Participants who had given up driving were asked when this occurred. Interviewers were blinded to the purpose of the study. Factors other than giving up driving that could affect the outcome were also assessed (age, sex, education level, housing type, marital status, cognitive status, visual and hearing problems, and performance of …
