Driver’s licence in an adult population with good vision: an exploratory study in two longitudinal very low birthweight cohorts

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether being born preterm with very low birth weight (VLBW), lower best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) or a history of a psychiatric or somatic diagnosis is associated with, or mediates, not having obtained a driver's licence at adult age. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Potential predictors of no driver's licence were investigated in participants with a mean age of 36 years and BCVA above the legal limit to drive from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology Low Birth Weight Life Study, Norway, and the Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults, Finland, (VLBW n=119, term-born controls n=149). RESULTS: Participants with no driver's licence (n=34) had lower BCVA than participants with a driver's licence (mean logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution (SD) -0.03 (0.11) vs -0.101 (0.09), p