The impact of therapeutic opioid agonists on driving-related psychomotor skills assessed by a driving simulator or an on-road driving task: A systematic review.

Ferreira DH, Boland JW, Phillips JL, Lam L, Currow DC

Palliat Med. 2018 Apr;32(4):786-803

This is a systematic review to assess the effect of opioids on driving safety in patients with chronic pain or chronic breathlessness. Only studies using methods to assess driving-related psychomotor skills, which are correlated with driving ability, were included. Three studies were included, and the authors report that overall there was no impairment on driving outcomes when patients were on stable doses of opioids. Pain may have a negative impact on people’s performance, itself more significant than regular therapeutic opioid. Overall, there is lack of data on driving-related psychomotor skills in patients with cancer pain on opioids and there is a need for further studies investigating the impact of opioids for symptom control on driving skills.

Composed by Elaine Boland.