Road traffic crashes and prescribed methadone and buprenorphine: A french registry-based case-control study
Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2012-06-01; 123(1-3): 91-97
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.10.022
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1. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2012 Jun 1;123(1-3):91-7. doi:
10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.10.022. Epub 2011 Nov 21.
Road traffic crashes and prescribed methadone and buprenorphine: a French
registry-based case-control study.
Corsenac P(1), Lagarde E, Gadegbeku B, Delorme B, Tricotel A, Castot A, Moore N,
Philip P, Laumon B, Orriols L.
Author information:
(1)Equipe Prévention et prise en charge des traumatismes, Centre de recherche
INSERM U897 Epidémiologie et Biostatistiques, Institut de Santé Publique
d’Epidémiologie et de Développement, Université Bordeaux Segalen, Case 11, 146
rue Léo Saignat, 33 076 Bordeaux cedex, France.
BACKGROUND: Opioids have been shown to impair psychomotor and cognitive
functioning in healthy volunteers with no history of opioid abuse. Few or no
significant effects have been found in opioid-dependant patients in experimental
or driving simulation studies. The risk of road traffic crash among patients
under buprenorphine or methadone has not been subject to epidemiological
investigation so far. The objective was to investigate the association between
the risk of being responsible for a road traffic crash and the use of
buprenorphine and methadone.
METHODS: Data from three French national databases were extracted and matched:
the national health care insurance database, police reports, and the national
police database of injurious crashes. Case-control analysis comparing responsible
versus non responsible drivers was conducted.
RESULTS: 72,685 drivers involved in an injurious crash in France over the July
2005-May 2008 period, were identified by their national health care number. The
196 drivers exposed to buprenorphine or methadone on the day of crash were young,
essentially males, with an important co-consumption of other substances (alcohol
and benzodiazepines). Injured drivers exposed to buprenorphine or methadone on
the day of crash, had an increased risk of being responsible for the crash (odds
ratio (OR)=2.02, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.40 and 2.91).
CONCLUSIONS: Users of methadone and buprenorphine were at increased risk of being
responsible for injurious road traffic crashes. The increased risk could be
explained by the combined effect of risky behaviors and treatments.
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.10.022
PMID: 22104480 [Indexed for MEDLINE]