PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Betz, Marian E.
AU  - Hyde, Hailey
AU  - DiGuiseppi, Carolyn
AU  - Platts-Mills, Timothy F.
AU  - Hoppe, Jason
AU  - Strogatz, David
AU  - Andrews, Howard F.
AU  - Mielenz, Thelma J.
AU  - Hill, Linda L.
AU  - Jones, Vanya
AU  - Molnar, Lisa J.
AU  - Eby, David W.
AU  - Li, Guohua
TI  - Self-Reported Opioid Use and Driving Outcomes among Older Adults: The AAA LongROAD Study
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2020.04.190429
DP  - 2020 Jul 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
PG  - 521--528
VI  - 33
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/33/4/521.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/33/4/521.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med2020 Jul 01; 33
AB  - Background: Opioid medications are important therapeutic options to mitigate the harmful effects of pain but can also impair driving ability. We sought to explore opioid use, pain levels, and driving experiences among older drivers.Methods: Cognitively intact drivers ages 65 to 79 years were recruited for the multisite AAA Longitudinal Research on Aging Drivers (LongROAD) study (n = 2990). This cross-sectional analysis used data from the baseline questionnaire and “brown-bag” medication review.Results: Among LongROAD participants (47% male, 88% white, 41% aged 65 to 69 years), 169 (5.7%) reported currently taking an opioid, with a median daily dose of 20 morphine milligram equivalents. Participants did not differ significantly in opioid use by age, gender, race, or ethnicity (P > .05). After adjustment for age, gender, race and ethnicity, participants who were taking opioids (vs not) were significantly more likely to report self-regulated driving reduction and reduced driving ability. However, these effects became nonsignificant when hospitalization, impaired physical function and other factors associated with opioid use were controlled.Conclusions: In this study from a large, geographically diverse sample of older adults, there was an association between opioid use and several self-reported measures of driving behavior and ability. However, future work should clarify the effects on driving of opioid use from the effects of the painful medical conditions for which the opioids are being taken. Clinicians should continue to discuss the risks and benefits of opioid medications with patients, including risks related to driving safety.