Relationships between Driving, Sleep, and Cognition in Subjective Cognitive Decline and Mild Cognitive Impairment

This thesis examines how cognition and sleepiness may affect driving in older adults at-risk of dementia. Specifically, it focuses on older adults experiencing concerns about cognitive decline and those who have mild impairment in cognition, which can occur up to 10 years before dementia. It identifies that sleepiness while driving is associated with more adverse driving outcomes, and may play a role in how poorer working memory (ability to manipulate information in short-term memory) may lead to more driving errors. Managing sleepiness may be a practical intervention for older adults at-risk of dementia to maintain safe driving and social engagement.