Citation

Fernández A, López MJ, Navarro R. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 2000; 81(3): 288-291.

Affiliation

Department of Rehabilitation, Prosthesis Service, Asturias Central Hospital, Oviedo, Spain.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10724072

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To study the driving of motor vehicles by persons with juvenile-onset amputation and to compare the percentage of drivers among them with that found in the general population. DESIGN: A follow-up study of subjects who were younger than 18 years of age at amputation and who underwent one-sided amputation, covering the period 1976 to 1996. SETTING: The Prosthesis Service of the Asturias Central Hospital, Spain. SUBJECTS: A total of 236 juvenile amputee patients. RESULTS: The percentage of women with amputations who drive is lower than that of their male counterparts (p<.05). The percentage of drivers with upper limb amputations is greater than that of drivers with amputation of the lower limb (p<.05). Motor vehicle adaptations were used more frequently by people with upper limb amputations (p<.05). The ability to drive was not affected by the etiology or the side of amputation, or by the use of a prosthesis. The level of amputation affected driving ability in cases of amputation of the lower limb, but not in those of amputation of the upper limb. CONCLUSION: The percentage of persons with juvenile-onset amputation who drive (47.4%) is similar to that found in the general population (40.8%), and the use of a prosthesis does not have any influence on the capacity to drive a car--89.2% of drivers and 93.5% of nondrivers used a prosthesis.

Language: en