The effects of acute treatment with tandospirone, diazepam, and placebo on driving performance and cognitive function in healthy volunteers

摘要

Objective To assess the effects of two anxiolytics, diazepam and tandospirone, on driving performance from methodological viewpoints taking frequent rear-end collisions into account. Methods In this double-blinded, three-way crossover trial, 18 healthy males received acute doses of 20 mg tandospirone (TSP), 5 rag diazepam (DZP), and placebo (PCB). The subjects were administered three driving tasks-road tracking, car following, and harsh braking-performed using a driving simulator and three cognitive tasks-Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Continuous Performance Test, and N-back test-at baseline and at 1 and 4h post-dosing. The Stanford Sleepiness Scale scores were also assessed. Results DZP nonsignificantly increased the percent change of brake reaction time (BRT) as compared to PCB at 4h post-dosing. TSP nonsignificantly decreased the percent change of BRT as compared to PCB. Consequently, there was a significant difference in the percent change of BRT between DZP and TSP at 4h post-dosing. For the remaining tasks, no statistically significant effects of treatment were observed. Conclusions Acute doses of DZP significantly impaired the harsh-braking performance as compared to acute doses of TSP. These findings suggest that TSP may be used more safely in patients' driving activities.