2020 Volume 46 Issue 4 Pages 205-210
The causes of motor vehicle accidents by elderly drivers include the ingestion of drugs that influence driving (precautionary/prohibited drugs). In this study, we investigated the status of driving and ingestion of precautionary/prohibited drugs by elderly persons living in a rural area, where the necessity of driving in daily life may be high because of limited public transportation.
The frequency of driving was “every day” for 82.3％. The number of years that the subjects wanted to continue driving was 10-14, accounting for 31.2％, and 17.0％ answered that they wanted to continue for ‘as long as possible’. Of the driver’s license holders taking drugs, 68.4％ had taken precautionary/prohibited drugs. The most frequently taken precautionary and prohibited drugs were amlodipine besylate and etizolam, respectively.
This survey suggests that many elderly driver’s license holders taking precautionary/prohibited drugs drive in the Sasayama-Tamba Area. To eliminate as many risk factors for motor vehicle accidents as possible, in addition to sufficient explanation, active intervention by pharmacists, such as proposing switching to drugs that do not influence driving, may be necessary.
