A Case-Control Study Investigating Simulated Driving Errors in Ischemic Stroke and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Stroke can affect a variety of cognitive, perceptual, and motor abilities that are important for safe driving. Results of studies assessing post-stroke driving ability are quite variable in the areas and degree of driving impairment among patients. This highlights the need to consider clinical characteristics, including stroke subtype, when assessing driving performance. We compared the simulated driving performance of 30 chronic stroke patients (>3 months), including 15 patients with ischemic stroke (IS) and 15 patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), and 20 age-matched controls. A preliminary analysis was performed, subdividing IS patients into right ( = 8) and left ( = 6) hemispheric lesions and SAH patients into middle cerebral artery (MCA, = 5) and anterior communicating artery ( = 6) territory. A secondary analysis was conducted to investigate the cognitive correlates of driving. Nine patients (30%) exhibited impaired simulated driving performance, including four patients with IS (26.7%) and five patients with SAH (33.3%). Both patients with IS (2.3 vs. 0.3, = 76,