Pain Medication May Not Impair Driving

Moderate, long-term pain medication use does not impair a person’s ability to drive safely, researchers at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, found.

Study leader Dr. Asokumar Buvanendran said that opioid pain relievers, such as morphine and other narcotics, carry warning labels urging patients not to drive or operate heavy machinery.

However, in a preliminary study, Buvanendran found no difference in the driving skills and reaction times of patients taking morphine compared to non-medicated drivers.

The study compared 51 patients chronically receiving oral morphine and 49 patients — the control group — receiving no pain medication. Each drove for approximately 12 minutes in a driving simulator that measured deviation from the center of the road, weaving, the number of accidents, and reaction time to surprise events.

The amount of weaving was 3.83 feet for both sets of drivers, and the opioid group had 5.33 collisions compared to the non-opioid group with 5.04, or no statistical difference. Reaction time also was similar for both groups: 0.69 seconds for the controlled group and 0.67 for the opioid group, Buvanendran said.

The findings were presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists meeting in San Francisco.