Psychomotor performance and fitness to drive: The influence of psychiatric disease and its pharmacological treatment

Both psychiatric disorders and psychiatric drug treatments produce changes of psychomotor performance which can disturb and/or interfere with the ability to drive safely. We studied the influence of current psychiatric drug treatments on psychomotor functions and on driving performance of 77 consecutive psychiatric outpatients in two different clinical situations: at admission, when patients are destabilized and their mental disorders untreated, and after 6 weeks of pertinent psychotropic treatment. Fitness to drive and psychomotor performance were assessed using the electronic LNDETER 100 battery. Treatment effects on global functioning were assessed using the Clinical Global Impression of Change (CGIC) scale. One-way repeated measures analysis of variance and post hoc comparisons with the Bonferroni correction were performed. At the time of diagnosis, 90% of the patients failed to achieve scores sufficient to renew their driving licenses. After 6 weeks of adequate treatment, 83% improved their mental condition, and 17% either remained unchanged or deteriorated. Of those who improved, 25% had scores sufficiently high for them to drive legally, and the rest improved their performance from baseline assessment. Three of the four sub-tests were able to discriminate between patients with different clinical conditions. The study clearly suggests that medical treatment of psychiatric problems has a positive effect on driving tests.