Table 1.
Depression and overall crash rate
| Lead Author | Year of Publication | Country | Sample Size | Methodology (data collection period) | Confounders | Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Rainio et al. 2007) | 2007 | Finland | 542 crashes, 640 crash deaths |
Retrospective review of crashes, autopsy records (2001, 2002) | Adjusted: Age, survival from accident, driver/passenger status Non-Adjusted: Retrospective review of medical records; surviving non-A parties and passengers excluded as controls; no medication data were included in analyses; incidence of undiagnosed depression or other psychiatric disorders is unknown |
Of fatal crashes, 6.4% of killed A-parties, (key driver), 3.9% of surviving A-parties (key survivor) and 1.5% of killed non-A-parties (non-key driver) had depression; 0% of killed passengers had depression |
| (Sagberg 2006) | 2006 | Norway | 4448 crash involved drivers | Self-report questionnaire of drivers in the last 6 months (no year reported) | Adjusted: Gender, age, driving distance, other involved road user, crash type, responsible for multiple vehicle crashes Non-Adjusted: Low response rate; biased or under-reporting from self-reports; self-report of depressive symptoms not confirmed; exclusion of diseases such as epilepsy |
“Feeling blue, depressed” on self-report had OR of 2.43 of being at fault, p = .03 |
| (Mann et al. 2010) | 2010 | Canada | 4935 adult drivers | Cross-sectional phone survey (2002-2004) |
Adjusted: Alcohol and cannabis lifetime and recent use; driving exposure and stressful driving environment Non-Adjusted: Driving exposure and collision involvement measured by self-report; no report of medication use for depression; comorbid psychiatric or medical conditions not captured |
Risk of collision involvement increased with each unit of depression-anxiety score using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) (OR = 1.05, CI: 101-1.09) |
| (Wickens et al. 2013) | 2013 | Canada | 12,830 | Telephone survey; motor vehicle accidents in past 12 months (conducted between 2002-2009) | Adjusted: Age, gender, driving exposure, driving after alcohol or cannabis use Non-Adjusted: Biased or under-reporting from self-reports; no report of medication use for depression and anxiety disorders; driving after use of substances other than alcohol or cannabis not studied |
Self-report of collision involvement of those with probable mood and anxiety disorder had OR = 1.78 (CI: 1.37, 2.31) |
| (Margolis et al. 2002) | 2002 | US | 1416 women 65-84 | Prospective analysis of older drivers (1991-1996) | Adjusted: Driving miles per week, number of motor vehicle crashes; use of medications and alcohol; functional status, visual acuity; previous history of falls Non-Adjusted: Sample limited to white women aged 65 years and older and living in Portland, OR; comorbid psychiatric conditions not captured; cases limited to motor vehicle crashes that resulted in a police report |
Depression did not predict crash (only 3.4% of participants had depression per Geriatric Depression Scale) |
| (Sims et al. 2000) | 2000 | US | 174 older adults; 61 subjects had crashes during study period | Prospective analysis of incident crash (1991-1992) | Adjusted: Age, race, gender, days per week driven Non-Adjusted: Small sample size; biased or under-reporting from self-reports of health status, medical diagnoses and medications; adherence to medications unknown; mileage driven were extrapolated based on average annual driving miles reported by subjects |
6.9% of sample had Geriatric Depression Scale ≥16; which increased risk of crash (RR = 2.53,CI:1.08-5.95, p = 0.03) |
| (LeRoy & Morse 2008) | 2008 | US | 81,408 cases and 244,224 age-, sex-and date-matched controls | Case-Control (1998-2002) | Adjusted: Age, gender, 6 months of coverage. Non adjusted: medical diagnosis and medication relationship. |
OR = 3.99 (CI:3.19, 4.99), p < .001 |
OR odds ratio, CI confidence interval, RR relative risk