Abstract
Background and aims: A considerable number of Europeans suffer from chronic pain and are using opioids, particularly of the weak type. It is a clinical impression that many of these are driving or wish to drive a car. The aims of this study were to investigate if codeine influences driving ability in a simulator, and to examine if chronic pain per se might impair such functions.
Methods: Twenty patients with chronic pain on long-term codeine therapy were compared to 20 chronic pain patients not using codeine in a video driving simulator test. The chronic pain patients were then compared to 20 healthy controls. The primary outcome measures were reaction time and number of missed reactions.
Results: The patients using codeine 120–270 mg (mean 180 mg) daily showed the same driving skills as patients not using codeine, and the codeine level did not affect the results. This was the case both 1 h after intake of a single dose of 60 mg codeine and five or more hours after the last codeine intake. The reaction times were significantly slower for the chronic pain patients, in both rural and urban driving conditions, compared to the healthy controls (difference 0.11 s. and 0.12 s., respectively). The chronic pain patients missed almost twice as many reactions to traffic signs. There were no difference between the groups in steering precision.
Conclusion: The main finding in this simulator study was that codeine does not impair driving-related abilities over and above what is associated with chronic pain per se.
Methods: Twenty patients with chronic pain on long-term codeine therapy were compared to 20 chronic pain patients not using codeine in a video driving simulator test. The chronic pain patients were then compared to 20 healthy controls. The primary outcome measures were reaction time and number of missed reactions.
Results: The patients using codeine 120–270 mg (mean 180 mg) daily showed the same driving skills as patients not using codeine, and the codeine level did not affect the results. This was the case both 1 h after intake of a single dose of 60 mg codeine and five or more hours after the last codeine intake. The reaction times were significantly slower for the chronic pain patients, in both rural and urban driving conditions, compared to the healthy controls (difference 0.11 s. and 0.12 s., respectively). The chronic pain patients missed almost twice as many reactions to traffic signs. There were no difference between the groups in steering precision.
Conclusion: The main finding in this simulator study was that codeine does not impair driving-related abilities over and above what is associated with chronic pain per se.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 409-415 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | European Journal of Pain |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2011 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgementsThis work was supported by a grant from The Norwegian Society of Traffic Accidentals.We gratefully thank Gro Garvin, nurse at The Center for Pain and Complex Disorders, for her everyday work with the test subjects in the simulator laboratory, and Professor Ola Dale, Institute of Circulation and Medical Imaging, for planning and implementation of the blood analyses.
Keywords
- chronic pain
- opioid
- codeine
- driving simulator
- reaction time
- traffic safety