Three antidepressants (amitriptyline, dothiepin, fluoxetine), with and without alcohol, compared with placebo on tests of psychomotor ability related to car driving
✍ Scribed by Ian Hindmarch
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1987
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 510 KB
- Volume
- 2
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-6222
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Eight female volunteers received acute doses of amitriptyline 50 mg (AMI), dothiepin 50 mg (DOT), fluoxetine 40 mg (FLU) or placebo both with and without a 'social' dose of alcohol (ALC) equivalent to 0.5 g/kg body weight absolute alcohol. Performance on a variety of tests of psychomotor ability and cognitive function (critical flicker fusion, choice reaction time, tracking, Maddox Wing and simulated car steering) were performed at 1.5 and 4 hours following treatment. AM1 and DOT both with and without ALC impaired performance on a range of tests at either or both 1.5 and 4 hours, although the effects of AM1 and AM1 + ALC were more widespread and severe than those found with either DOT or DOT + ALC. FLU and FLU + ALC showed no evidence of impairment on any test at either the 1.5 or the 4 hours assessments. The results suggest that there are differences between the experimental substances, at the doses used, in their intrinsic potential for impairing aspects of psychomotor performance and cognitive function.