@article{ref1,
title="Effect of chronic opioid therapy on actual driving performance in non-cancer pain patients",
journal="Psychopharmacology",
year="2017",
author="Schumacher, Markus B. and Jongen, Stefan and Knoche, Anja and Petzke, Frank and Vuurman, Eric F. and Vollrath, Mark and Ramaekers, Johannes G.",
volume="234",
number="6",
pages="989-999",
abstract="RATIONALE: Chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) is a major health problem. Patients are increasingly treated with chronic opioid therapy (COT). Several laboratory studies have demonstrated that long-term use of opioids does not generally impair driving related skills. But there is still a lack of studies investigating on-the-road driving performance in actual traffic. <br><br>OBJECTIVES: The present study assessed the impact of COT on road-tracking and car-following performance in CNCP patients. <br><br>METHODS: Twenty CNCP patients, long-term treated with stable doses of opioid analgesics, and 19 healthy controls conducted standardized on-the-road driving tests in normal traffic. Performance of controls with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.5 g/L was used as a reference to define clinically relevant changes in driving performance. <br><br>RESULTS: Standard Deviation of Lateral Position (SDLP), a measure of road-tracking control, was 2.57 cm greater in CNCP patients than in sober controls. This difference failed to reach statistical significance in a superiority test. Equivalence testing indicated that the 95% CI around the mean SDLP change was equivalent to the SDLP change seen in controls with a BAC of 0.5 g/L and did not include zero. When corrected for age differences between groups the 95% CI widened to include both the alcohol reference criterion and zero. No difference was found in car-following performance. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Driving performance of CNCP patients did not significantly differ from that of controls due to large inter-individual variations. Hence in clinical practice determination of fitness to drive of CNCP patients who receive opioid treatments should be based on an individual assessment.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0033-3158",
doi="10.1007/s00213-017-4539-3",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4539-3"
}