title: Piracetam in elderly motorists.
abstract: 101 elderly motorists with reduced reaction capacity were examined under real traffic conditions with regard to their driving ability. They were given a daily dose of 4.8 g piracetam or placebo over a six-week period in a randomised double-blind study. The percentage of correctly solved sign-observance items, which reflects orientation and perception in real traffic conditions, increased in the placebo-treated test-group from 79.86% in the pretest to 80.07% in the retest, whereas the test subjects of the piracetam-treated group improved their performance from 77.08% to 84.16%. After being treated with piracetam for 6 weeks, the drivers showed a significantly better performance than the placebo-group. Of particular interest is the finding that the test-subjects who had scored less than 80% in the pretest improved without exception in the retest after treatment with piracetam.
authors.affiliation: Arbeits- und Forschungsgemeinschaft für Strassenverkehr und Verkehrssicherheit, University of Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brendemühl
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Engels
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schenk
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ludemann
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010889:Piracetam / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects*; D011897:Random Allocation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical
chemical_list: D010889:Piracetam