Evaluation of motor vehicle driving performance in patients with chronic diplopia

Background: Uncorrected diplopia is a condition that may make it unsafe for a person to operate a motor vehicle. In some jurisdictions, physicians are required by law to report the person with diplopia to the appropriate authority. Methods: In this masked study, 10 patients of varying ages with stable diplopia of greater than 6 months' duration and 10 age-matched control subjects were placed in a driving simulator and evaluated on their performance. Various cues and threats, including near-accident situations, were presented; stimulus recognition and reaction times were recorded. Results: No significant difference was found between the groups for either cue or threat recognition responses or reaction times. Increasing age was the factor most associated with poor response performance on all test measures (P