[Adverse medical aspects of hypnotic therapy with temazepam]

In a double blind comparison the driving ability of 32 outpatients with disomnia was investigated in psychometrical tests and standardized trial runs in road traffic every morning after a single dose and after a 7-day therapy with 20 mg temazepam compared with 2 mg flunitrazepam. As well as standardized driving performance observation a test car was fitted with a drive-recorder which synchronically recorded and digitally registered at 1 s intervals during a 60 min run the speed, the steering wheel velocity, fore-hand-aft and lateral acceleration amongst other data. The individual optimal quotient, as a measure of the degree of efficiency of the information processed in the driver-vehicle-road system, deteriorated significantly after the single dose of flunitrazepam as opposed to temazepam. In a trial run on a well defined test course under strictly standardized conditions, the steering wheel velocity, signifying the quality of steering ability, was highly significantly increased after the single dose as well as after the 7-day treatment with flunitrazepam therefore showing a distinct deterioration of steering ability compared to the temazepam group. The number of errors in technical handling was significantly highly with flunitrazepam at both control time checks than with temazepam.