# Clustering and Characteristics of Acute Acquired Brain Injury Patients With Driving Resumption Difficulty: The Role of Neuropsychological Tests, Frailty, and Gait Independence

## TL;DR

This study identifies patient clusters with difficulty resuming driving after brain injury, highlighting the importance of neuropsychological tests, frailty, and gait independence.

## Contribution

The study introduces a clustering approach to identify patient characteristics affecting driving resumption after brain injury.

## Key findings

- Poor neuropsychological test results correlate with inability to resume driving (p < 0.001).
- Frailty and low walking independence are significant in this cluster (p = 0.02).

## Abstract

Objectives: Decisions to resume driving after acute brain injury are often difficult. Predictors of decisions depend on the results of neuropsychological tests. As a result, few studies have investigated other characteristics. This study clustered participants who received support for resuming driving after acute brain injury based on neuropsychological tests and analyzed their characteristics.

Materials and methods: Participants were 74 patients with acute brain injury. Cluster analysis was used to classify participants based on attention and visuospatial cognitive functions. Each cluster group were compared using multiple comparison tests (Bonferroni method) in terms of clinical assessments, neuropsychological tests, and driving resumption ability.

Results: The characteristics of the cluster group with poor results in the two neuropsychological tests were that they were often judged as unable to resume driving (p < 0.001), were in a state of frailty (p = 0.02), and had a low level of walking independence (p = 0.02).

Conclusions: When helping patients with acute brain injury to return to driving, not only the results of neuropsychological tests but also assessments of frailty before onset and level of walking independence are important.