Pain study finds some risk of driving impairment with methadone, buprenorphine

Researchers suggest that clinical professionals should at least be aware of the initial effects that the medications methadone and buprenorphine could have on some pain patients' driving performance.

A new study published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, using an on-road driving test to examine the effects of opioids on driving among drug-naïve individuals, found that both methadone and buprenorphine increased sleepiness and impaired cognitive performance at the highest doses used for pain. “The results tell us that caution is required when initiating treatment with these drugs,” said lead study author Maren Cecilie Strand, of Oslo University Hospital in Norway.

The study found that single analgesic doses of methadone and buprenorphine had only a mild effect on driving performance.

The researchers reported that four of the 22 study participants stopped their on-road driving test while under the influence of one of the opioids, due to sleepiness. The researchers suggested that patients be informed about the potential for driving impairment caused by methadone and buprenorphine.