Key clinical point: The likelihood of motor vehicle crashes (MVC) in the year following diagnosis is significantly higher among older drivers who have recently been diagnosed with migraine, emphasizing the necessity for driving safety interventions for these individuals.
Major finding: The risk for an MVC in the year after migraine onset was > 3 times higher among older adult drivers with new-onset migraine compared with those who never had a migraine (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.27; P = .019). Prevalent migraine was not associated with MVC in the subsequent 2 years (aOR 0.97; P = .88).
Study details: Findings are from the AAA Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers study, which included 2589 older drivers (age 65-79 years) with a valid driver’s license, of whom 12.5% and 1.3% reported prevalent and incident migraines, respectively.
Disclosures: This study was funded by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: DiGuiseppi CG et al. Migraine headaches are associated with motor vehicle crashes and driving habits among older drivers: Prospective cohort study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2023 (Dec 22). doi: 10.1111/jgs.18719