Fisk, G.D., Novack, T., Mennemeier, M., & Roenker, D. (2002). Useful field of view following traumatic brain injury. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 17, 16-25.
Context: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors often have sensory and cognitive impairments that may interfere with driving ability, thus necessitating driving evaluation before the resumption of driving. Useful field of view (UFOV) is a measure of visual information processing that can diminish with age and is a good predictor of vehicle crash risk in older adults.
Objective: To explore the possibility that useful field of view is compromised following traumatic brain injury.
Design: cross sectional study
Setting: Rehabilitation hospital affiliated with a medical university.
Patients: Twenty-three TBI survivors, 18 young adults without neurological impairment.
Main outcome measure: UFOV scores
Results: TBI survivors had higher UFOV scores than young adults, which indicated a greater functional loss of peripheral vision. TBI survivors were most impaired on a selective attention subtest of the UFOV that involved detecting stimuli embedded within a cluttered background.
Conclusion: Traumatic brain injury survivors exhibit UFOV impairment when compared to young adults without neurological deficits. UFOV may be a valuable instrument for assessing driving readiness in TBI survivors. Further study of the relationship between this measure and driving safety in TBI survivors is warranted.