Psychomotor Performance Relevant to Driving Ability in Patients with Schizophrenia Treated with Haloperidol and Aripiprazole.

Han, Ji Hyun; Park, Se Jin; Lee, Jong Il; Chang, An Kee; Kang, Shi Hyun; Soh, Minah; Lee, Kyung Jin; Koh, Eun Sang; Roh, Sungwon

doi:2012.15.2.99

Korean J Schizophr Res > Volume 15(2); 2012 > Article

Original Article

Korean Journal of Schizophrenia Research 2012;15(2):99-105.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.16946/kjsr.2012.15.2.99 Published online October 31, 2012.

Psychomotor Performance Relevant to Driving Ability in Patients with Schizophrenia Treated with Haloperidol and Aripiprazole.

Ji Hyun Han, Se Jin Park, Jong Il Lee, An Kee Chang, Shi Hyun Kang, Minah Soh, Kyung Jin Lee, Eun Sang Koh, Sungwon Roh

¹Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
²Department of Mental Health Research, Seoul National Hospital, Seoul, Korea. swroh@korea.kr
³Ansan Yoon Neuropsychiatric Clinic, Ansan, Korea.
⁴Center for Addiction Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to compare psychomotor performance related with automobile driving in patients with schizophrenia under the treatment of a typical antipsychotic agent, haloperidol, or an atypical antipsychotic agent, aripiprazole.
METHODS
We evaluated driving ability of schizophrenia patients by using the cognitive perceptual assessment for driving (CPAD). Twelve patients receiving haloperidol monotherapy and 18 taking aripiprazole monotherapy participated in this study and the results of CPAD were compared with each other.
RESULTS
Of 30 participants, 15 (50%) of the patients passed the CPAD to be regarded as competent to drive, 3 (10%) of the patients failed the CPAD considered to be severely impaired. Controlling for sex, age, education, duration of illness, there were no significant differences in the CPAD results between two treatment groups. We observed a trend that patients who received aripiprazole showed a higher total score of the CPAD than haloperidol-treated patients (55.2+/-4.9 vs. 45.7+/-8.4, p=0.080).
CONCLUSION
There were no significant differences in the psychomotor performance relevant to driving ability between haloperidol and aripiprazole groups. But our results suggest that aripiprazole might have the neurocognitive advantage over haloperidol. Future study with a large sample size and diverse antipsychotics is warranted.

Key Words: Schizophrenia · Haloperidol · Aripiprazole · Driving · Psychomotor performance