TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Second generation antihistamines exhibit a protective effect on drivers in traffic: A preliminary population-based case-control study
JO  - Traffic injury prevention
A1  - Perttula, Antti
A1  - Pitkäniemi, Janne
A1  - Heinonen, Olli-Pekka
A1  - Finkle, William D.
A1  - Triche, Timothy
A1  - Gergov, Merja
A1  - Vuori, Erkki
SP  - 551
EP  - 555
VL  - 15
IS  - 6
N2  - INTRODUCTION: Although there have been experimental studies concerning driving and drugs, studies on the risk of antihistamines are not numerous. This is the first population-based epidemiological study concerning the association of sedating/non-sedating antihistamines and fatal traffic accidents.     METHODS: Car drivers (n = 428) who died in accidents before reaching hospital and controls (n = 688) matched for accident area and driving season were studied for antihistamines in blood. At the time of the fatal road traffic accident, 6 drivers had a detectable amount of sedating antihistamines in blood, while the corresponding number for controls was 4; non-sedating antihistamines in blood were detected in 12 accident cases and 28 controls. The fatal accidents occurred between 1998-2002 and the information on the controls was collected between 2000-2002 in Finland.     RESULTS: Regarding fatal traffic accident causality, the non-sedating antihistamines proved to have a protective effect after adjusting for age and gender (RR = 0.40 0.20 to 0.82 95% CI, p = 0.01). The risk of fatal traffic accident of those driving under the influence of sedating antihistamines was 1.61 (0.38 to 6.77, p = 0.51) times the risk of those without medication.     DISCUSSION: This preliminary study supports the protective effect of second generation antihistamines with respect to fatal traffic accidents. Due to the small sample size the results not conclusive.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1538-9588
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2013.861597
ID  - ref1
ER  -