Effects of Pain on Driving Performance and Cognition.

September 12, 2005 updated by: UMC Utrecht

Effects of Pain on Driving Performance, Attentional Capacity and Psychomotor Performances: a Comparative Study Between Healthy Controls and Chronic Pain Patients.

It has been suggested that cognitive functioning is impaired in chronic pain patients. Since most of these pain patients engage in daily activities including driving, it was hypothezised that they may have an increased risk of becoming involved in traffic accidents.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Detailed Description

Most chronic pain patients engage in daily activities including driving. Driving a car is a complex task requiring mental alertness and a variety of cognitive functions such as perception, attention, learning, memory and decision making.Several studies have demonstrated cognitive impairments on laboratory tasks in patients with chronic pain, particularly on measures assessing attentional capacity, processing speed and psychomotor speed. These findings suggest that car driving performance might be impaired, and that chronic pain patients may therefore have an increased traffic accident risk. Unfortunately, no studies have investigated the impact of chronic pain on actual driving ability. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of chronic pain on actual driving performance during normal traffic. In addition to the on-the-road driving test, psychomotor, and memory tests measuring driving-related skills were conducted in the laboratory. Moreover, effects of pain on an attentional capacity test were tested using event-related potentials.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment

30

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Utrecht, Netherlands, 3508 TB
        • Department of Psychopharmacology

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

30 years to 60 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

age driving licence driving experience normal vision right-handed fluently Dutch speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

psychological or physical disorder drug or alcohol abuse psychotropic medication use excessive smoking, drinking

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Collaborators

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2004

Study Completion

April 1, 2005

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 12, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 12, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

September 16, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

September 16, 2005

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 12, 2005

Last Verified

December 1, 2004

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 03/237-E

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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