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The effect of trazodone on standardized field sobriety tests
Eric J Ip1, Quang V Bui, Mitchell J Barnett
1Department of Pharmacy Practice, Touro University California College of Pharmacy, Vallejo, CA 94592, USA. eric.ip@tu.edu
Study Objective:
To evaluate the effects of a single dose of trazodone on the standardized field sobriety test (SFST).
Design:
A randomized, double-blinded, repeated-measures study.
Participants:
Forty-five healthy adult subjects.
Setting:
University campus.
Measurements And Main Results:
The SFST consists of the horizontal gaze nystagmus, walk-and-turn, and one-leg stand tests. Subjects were administered a baseline SFST and at 2 hours after the administration of either trazodone 100 mg (30 subjects) or acetaminophen 650 mg (15 subjects). At 2 hours post drug administration, there were no statistical differences in failure rates between the trazodone and acetaminophen groups (53.3% vs 20.0%, p=0.054). However, the trazodone group exhibited more impairment clues within the individual tests of the SFST than the acetaminophen group.
Conclusions:
A one-time dose of trazodone 100 mg does not result in an increased SFST failure rate at 2 hours postdosing compared to acetaminophen 650 mg. However, the number of individual impairment clues detected is increased with trazodone. Trazodone 100 mg may cause cognitive driving impairment.
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