Aging & Society: Eighth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Taxi driving has been associated with the risk of various diseases e.g. cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, back pain. Little is known about the relationship between health conditions and driving fitness of older taxi drivers who continue to work. This study aims to investigate the (i) prevalence of medical conditions (ii) relationship between age and medical conditions with on-road tests in the relicensing process of taxi drivers above 70 years of age. To do this, 855 relicensing records of taxi drivers aged 70, 73 and 74 years from 2014-2015 were analysed retrospectively. All passed their medical fitness screening. 97.8% passed their driving tests. 31.2%, 36.3% and 23.9% reported none, one and two medical conditions respectively. These included hypertension (56.1%), eye disease (25.1%), diabetes (23.8%), corrected hearing impairment (14.1%), hyperlipidemia (12.1%), heart disease (9.3%). Deafness (p<0.001) was associated with older age. No past medical condition affected driving outcome. Older Singaporean taxi drivers were healthy and generally competent drivers. Early effective preventive health screening and modifable lifestyle intervention are recommended in older taxi drivers.