Comparative effect in human subjects of chlordiazepoxide, diazepam, and placebo on mental and physical performance

Abstract

Two tranquilizers, chlordiazepoxide and diazepam, and placebo medication were studied in 18 subjects for their effects on mental and motor performance with and without small amounts of ethanol. Attentive motor performance was measured with a pursuit meter developed by the authors. Ethanol was the only drug used alone that impaired motor performance. Over‐all drug‐alcohol interaction was not significant with diazepam or chlordiazepoxide. However, in one pattern, a synergistic effect of diazepam with alcohol occurred. Mental performance was measured with a delayed auditory feedback system. The subiects had nine verbal or arithmetical tests on six different occasions on a 6 x 6 random plan. By this procedure only alcohol effected a decrease in performance scores. No appreciable additive effect of chlordiazepoxide or diazepam with alcohol (in low blood concentration) was evident.

The effects of low doses of amylobarbitone sodium and diazepam on human performance.

“…Jaattela, significant changes were reported in a group of ten Mannist6, Paatero & Tuomisto (1971) using two subjects in card sorting and digit symbol substihundred and seventy medical students, showed tution by Malpas & Joyce (1969) except after impairment in digit symbol substitution and short term memory following diazepam (10 mg) in men, while in women impairment occurred on the former test only. In the study by Idestr6m & Schalling (1970) few significant changes occurred in a battery of short tests performed by groups of twenty-two subjects following amylobarbitone sodium (150 mg), but changes were more apparent after 300 mg. Hughes, Forney & Richards (1965) failed to obtain significant impairment in verbal and arithmetic tests after diazepam (6 mg) in a group of eighteen subjects. Haffner, M0rland, Setekleiv, Str0msaether, Danielson, Frivik & Dybing (1973), using a group of eight subjects, examined the effect of diazepam (10 and 20 mg) on a series of short tests.…”

Effects of benzodiazepines on psychomotor performance.

“…Critical flicker fusion frequency was reduced and body sway was reduced. Hughes et al (1965) found chlordiazepoxide (15 mg daily) to have no effect on their sample of 18 graduate students. Although the dosage implications of this finding are consistent with the trends suggested by the studies of Idestrom & Cadenius (1963) and of Holmberg & William-Olsson (1963), it should be noted that they did not use the same criteria of psychomotor effect.…”

Drugs and Driving

“…On the basis of such statistics Havard (1970) considered that in the United Kingdom some 3-5% of drivers (that is some 500,000 drivers in all) are taking psychoactive drugs at any given time. (Landauer, Milner & Patman, 1969;Linnoila, Saario & Mattila, 1974) and attention tests (Hughes, Forney & Richards, 1965), which have only a superficial relevance to driving. While such techniques may reveal significant drug effects (Milner & Landauer, 1971), these effects are, in the case of the benzodiazepines at least, too variable for any consistent pattern to emerge (Greenblatt & Shader, 1974).…”