DRIVING PERFORMANCE THE DAY AFTER THE USE OF LOPRAZOLAM, FLUNITRAZEPAM AND PLACEBO

Abstract

Loprazolam is a relatively new imidazobenzodiazepine hypnotic. The currently recommended dose for normal adults is 1 mg and the dose recommended for patients suffering from serious persistent insomnia is 2 mg. Four treatments were administered on two consecutive nights to female subjects who had previously used hypnotic drugs for the treatment of insomnia. The subjects undertook two driving tests on days following the treatments. The tests consisted of operating an instrumented automobile over a 100 km highway circuit while attempting to maintain a constant speed and a constant lateral position between right lane boundaries. Major conclusions were as follows: (1) nightly doses of 1 mg loprazolam and 2 mg flunitrazepam can slightly degrade driving performance the following day, but the degree of impairment seems insufficient to preclude the drugs use by drivers, and (2) nightly doses of 2 mg of loprazolam can seriously degrade driving performance for up to 17 hours and this dose is not recommended for use by drivers. (TRRL)