Citation

Schmidt U, Brendemühl D, Engels K, Schenk N, Ludemann E. Pharmacopsychiatry 1991; 24(4): 121-126.

Affiliation

Arbeits- und Forschungsgemeinschaft für Strassenverkehr und Verkehrssicherheit, University of Cologne, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Georg Thieme Verlag)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

1754607

Abstract

101 elderly motorists with reduced reaction capacity were examined under real traffic conditions with regard to their driving ability. They were given a daily dose of 4.8 g piracetam or placebo over a six-week period in a randomised double-blind study. The percentage of correctly solved sign-observance items, which reflects orientation and perception in real traffic conditions, increased in the placebo-treated test-group from 79.86% in the pretest to 80.07% in the retest, whereas the test subjects of the piracetam-treated group improved their performance from 77.08% to 84.16%. After being treated with piracetam for 6 weeks, the drivers showed a significantly better performance than the placebo-group. Of particular interest is the finding that the test-subjects who had scored less than 80% in the pretest improved without exception in the retest after treatment with piracetam.

Language: en