This paper reports a Japanese study, which continuously monitored drivers' physiological reactions and driving performance during driving along a road, and compared the effects of epinastine on driving performance with those of a conventional antihistamine and a placebo. The subjects were twelve healthy male volunteers, aged 21 to 44, who routinely drove a vehicle. The test vehicle was a four-door sedan car, equipped with an additional steering wheel and foot brake in case of emergency. The experimenter sat beside each subject during driving. The driving tests were conducted on a two-lane paved circular road in the Japan Automobile Research Institute. Each subject was asked to drive for two hours at a constant speed of about 60kph. During driving, a data recorder continuously recorded electroencephalogram (EEG), electrooculogram (EOG), steering wheel movement and driving speed. In every driving round, the sleepiness of the subject was measured, and the test was terminated if the subject started to doze. All results were analysed by cross-over analysis of variance. The test was completed by eleven subjects when using the placebo, by ten when taking epinastine, but by only six when taking chlopheniramine. Thus epinastine was judged to be safe, but chlopheniramine induced sleepiness.
Abstract