TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bakhtiari, Reyhaneh
AU  - Tomczak, Michelle V.
AU  - Langor, Stephen D.
AU  - Granley, Aaron
AU  - Campbell, Farah
AU  - Singhal, Anthony
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/05
TI  - Impaired Cognitive Performance and Driving: A Comparative Study of Older Adults and Younger Adult Drug Users
JO  - OBM Geriatrics
SP  - 334
VL  - 10
IS  - 01
AB  - Driving is a complex cognitive behavior that is an essential part of everyday life and can be broken down into many subcomponents. Due to aging and medication interactions, a wide range of motor, sensory, and cognitive skills that are imperative for driving are affected in older adults. Several studies show that the number of crashes and mortality rates increase by age and the consumption of cannabis and cocaine is associated with a range of adverse mental and physical effects. The purpose of this study was to identify driving-related cognitive-performance differences associated with aging in older adults, and recreational drug use in younger adults. Data from a control group of healthy non-drug impaired younger (Control Younger (n = 278, f = 186, m = 90, other = 2, 19.89 ± 5.36)) and older adults (Control Older (n = 47, f = 22, m = 25, other = 0, 66.06 ± 6.85)) was collected. We also recruited over 300 participants, primarily frequent drug users who tested positive for various drugs including cannabis (Cannabis (n = 114, f = 19, m = 95, other = 0, 37.41 ± 11.69)) and/or cocaine (Cannabis/Cocaine (n = 162, f = 24, m = 137, other = 1, 47.99 ± 12.94)), (Cocaine (n = 60, f = 13, m = 47, other = 0, 52.45 ± 7.86)), on a urine test. Frequent drug users exhibited significant cognitive deficits compared to older adults and control groups, particularly in memory and decision-making domains. Cannabis users performed less accurately in memory tasks than older controls age 65 and older. Polysubstance users (concurrently using cannabis and cocaine) demonstrated the poorest performance, outperformed by younger controls in all measures and showing significant reaction time impairment compared to cannabis users. Older adults seem to perform similar to younger adults when age is controlled for. Our findings indicate that frequent drug users exhibit significant cognitive deficits in memory and decision-making domains, which can impact driving-related performance. These deficits are pronounced compared to both older and younger control groups, highlighting the potential risks associated with drug use and driving.
SN  - 2638-1311
UR  - https://doi.org/10.21926/obm.geriatr.2601334
DO  - 10.21926/obm.geriatr.2601334
ID  - Bakhtiari2026
ER  -