Highlights Of Colorado drivers ages 65–79, 9% reported using cannabis in the past year. Of older drivers that used cannabis in the past year, 9.3% had done so within 1 h of driving. Past-year cannabis users were 4 times as likely to drive while impaired by alcohol as those who did not use cannabis in the past year. Anxiety or anger symptoms mediated observed differences in self-reported driving lapses, errors and violations and safe driving abilities. Self-reported crashes and citations did not differ between cannabis users and non-users.

    Abstract This study examined cannabis use and driving outcomes among older drivers in Colorado, which has legalized medical and recreational use. The associations of self-reported past-year cannabis use with diverse driving outcomes were assessed in 598 drivers aged 65–79 (51% female, 70% with postsecondary education), using regression analysis to adjust for health and sociodemographic characteristics. Two hundred forty four (40.8%) drivers reported ever using cannabis. Fifty-four drivers (9.0%) reported past-year use, ranging from more than once a day (13.0%) to less than once a month (50.0%). Of past-year users, 9.3% reported cannabis use within 1 h of driving in the past year. Past-year users were younger, less highly educated, lower income, and reported significantly worse mental, emotional, social and cognitive health status than drivers without past-year use. Past-year users were four times as likely to report having driven when they may have been over the legal blood-alcohol limit (adjusted OR [aOR] = 4.18; 95% CI: 2.11, 8.25) but were not more likely to report having had a crash or citation (aOR = 1.36; 95% CI: 0.70, 2.66) in the past year. Users and non-users had similar scores on self-rated abilities for safe driving (adjusted beta=-0.04; 95% CI: −0.23, 0.15) and on driving-related lapses, errors and violations in the past year (adjusted beta = 0.04; 95% CI: −0.04, 0.12). Further study is needed to establish driving risks and behaviours related to cannabis use, independent of other associated risk factors, among older adults.


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    Title :

    Cannabis use in older drivers in Colorado: The LongROAD Study




    Publication date :

    2019-08-15




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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