TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Road traffic accidents and psychotropic medication use in the Netherlands: A case-control study
JO  - British journal of clinical pharmacology
A1  - de Jong-van den Berg, L. T. W.
A1  - De Gier, Johan J.
A1  - van Rein, N.
A1  - Ravera, Silvia
SP  - 505
EP  - 513
VL  - 72
IS  - 3
N2  - "WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS" statement What is already known about this subject • Some psychotropic medications (e.g. benzodiazepines, sedative antidepressants, etc.) can impair cognitive and psychomotor functions, and, therefore, endanger traffic safety. • There is a lack of knowledge concerning the role in traffic safety of first and new generations of psychotropic medications, new and chronic users, young and old drivers, and polypharmacy. What this study adds • There is an increased risk of having a traffic accident after being exposed to some psychotropic medicine classes, and, in particular, to SSRIs. • Health care professionals and patients should be properly informed about the potential effects of some psychoactive medications on driving abilities. • The role of SSRIs in traffic safety has to be further investigated. ABSTRACT: AIM: To examine the association between the use of commonly prescribed psychotropic medications and road traffic accident risk. METHODS: A record-linkage database was used to perform a case-control study, in the Netherlands. The data came from three sources: pharmacy prescription data, police traffic accident data, and driving license data. Cases were defined as drivers, who had a traffic accident that required medical assistance, between 2000 and 2007. Controls were defined as adults, who had a driving license and had no traffic accident during the study period. Four controls were matched for each case. The following psychotropic medicine groups were examined: antipsychotics, anxiolytics, hypnotics and sedatives, and antidepressants stratified in the two groups SSRIs and other antidepressants. Various variables, such as age, sex, medicine half-life, alcohol use were considered for the analysis. RESULTS: 3963 cases and 18828 controls were included in the case-control analysis. A significant association was found between traffic accident risk and exposure to anxiolytics [OR = 1.54 (95% CI: 1.11 - 2.15)], and SSRIs [OR = 2.03 (95% CI: 1.31 - 3.14)]. A statistically significant increased risk was also seen in chronic - anxiolytic users, females and young users (18 to 29 years old), chronic - SSRI users, females and middle-aged users (30 to 59 years old), and intermediate half-life hypnotic users. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study support previous findings and confirm that psychoactive medications can constitute a problem in traffic safety. Both health care providers and patients should be properly informed of the potential risks associated with the use of these medicines.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0306-5251
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2125.2011.03994.x
ID  - ref1
ER  -