The impact of chronic pain patients' psychotropic drug knowledge and warning labels on the decision whether to drive a car or not.
OBJECTIVE
The attitudes of patients towards driving a car while taking medication with psychotropic side effects is unclear. A growing number of patients use these psychotropic medicines on a daily basis, and this may interfere with their ability to drive a car.


METHODS
By means of a survey, we examined attitudes towards driving while using psychotropic medicinal drugs and the effect of warning labels on the decision whether to drive a car or not in patients with chronic pain.


RESULTS
Fifty-eight of 100 patients possessing a driver's license used psychotropic medication. Despite warning labels affixed on the packages that these drugs might impair driving ability, the majority (71%) of these patients continued driving a car. A point of concern is that 40% of these patients reported not to be more cautious in traffic after taking psychotropic drugs.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this survey indicate that drug warning labels applied by Dutch pharmacies do not significantly change attitudes towards driving a car in patients taking medicinal drugs with psychotropic side effects. Future road-safety campaigns should pay more attention to the impairing effects of psychotropic drugs on driving.
Veldhuijzen
D S
DS
Department of Psychopharmacology, Universityof Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. DVeldhuijzen@umaryland.edu
van Wijck
A J M
AJ
Verster
J C
JC
Kalkman
C J
CJ
Kenemans
J L
JL
Olivier
B
B
Volkerts
E R
ER
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003657:Decision Making; D004348:Drug Labeling; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs