Effects of beta blockers on psychomotor performance--a review

There is a possibility that beta-receptor blocking drugs may modify psychomotor performance, either peripherally or centrally. The inherent problems in evaluating the effects of drugs on performance are mainly due to interpretation of what is meant by "psychomotor" as the term embraces many mental and physical skills. In addition, statistical validation is often difficult. The current literature is reviewed with these provisos in mind and 24 studies of the effects of beta blockade are discussed. Of these 15 could be assessed as showing "no effect" and, of the remaining 9, improved performance was reported in 6 and impairment in 3. There is a wide variation in the results of such studies but, in general, it would appear that while the clinical use of beta-blocking drugs in aviation may produce an adverse effect on performance, it should be no greater than ordinary day-to-day variation.