ArticlePsychopharmacology2014
On-the-road driving performance and driving-related skills in older untreated insomnia patients and chronic users of hypnotics.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Driving Performance Under Treatment of Most Frequently Prescribed Drugs for Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review of Patient Studies.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics and police-reported motor vehicle crash risk among older adults: a sequential target trial emulation.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- A scoping review of motor vehicle operator performance assessments for benzodiazepine receptor agonists.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2024Article
- Age-Related Effect of Sleepiness on Driving Performance: A Systematic-Review.Brain sciences · 2021Review
- Article
- Driving performance and neurocognitive skills of long-term users of benzodiazepine anxiolytics and hypnotics.Human psychopharmacology · 2019Article
- Observational
- Insomnia and driving ability.Sleep · 2014Article
- Residual effects of zopiclone 7.5 mg on highway driving performance in insomnia patients and healthy controls: a placebo controlled crossover study.Psychopharmacology · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleMany older adults report sleep problems and use of hypnotics. Several studies have shown that hypnotics can have acute adverse effects on driving the next morning. It is unclear however whether driving of chronic hypnotic users is impaired. Therapeutic effects on insomnia and development of tolerance may reduce the residual effects on driving.
objectivesThe present study aimed to compare actual driving performance and driving-related skills of chronic hypnotic users to good sleepers. To determine whether insomnia itself affects driving performance, driving and driving-related skills were compared between insomnia patients who do not or infrequently use hypnotics and good sleepers.
methodsTwenty-two frequent users of hypnotics (using hypnotics ≥ 4 nights per week for more than 3 months), 20 infrequent users (using hypnotics ≤ 3 nights per week), and 21 healthy, age-matched controls participated in this study. On the night before testing, all subjects were hospitalized for an 8-h sleep recorded by polysomnography. Frequent hypnotic users used their regular medication at bedtime (2330 hours), while infrequent users and controls received no medication. Cognitive performance (word learning, digit span, tracking, divided attention, vigilance, and inhibitory control) was assessed 8.5 h and driving performance between 10 and 11 h after bedtime and dosing.
resultsPolysomnographic recordings did not significantly differ between the groups, but the insomnia patients, treated or untreated, still reported subjective sleep complaints. Results show no differences in driving performance and driving-related skills between both groups of insomnia patients and controls.
conclusionsDriving performance in chronic users of hypnotics and untreated insomnia patients is not impaired. For chronic users, this may be due to prescription of relatively safe drugs and low doses. For untreated insomniacs, this corroborates previous findings showing an absence of neuropsychological deficits in this group of patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.