Citation

Heinemann A, Grellner W, Preuss J, Kratochwil M, Cordes O, Lignitz E, Wilske J, Puschel K. Blutalkohol 2004; 41(2): 117-127.

Affiliation

Institut fur Rechtsmedizin, Universitat Hamburg, 22529 Hamburg, Germany

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, International Committee on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety and Bund gegen Alkohol und Drogen im Straßenverkehr, Publisher Steintor Verlag)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the Institutes of Legal Medicine in Hamburg, Saarland and Vorpommern (Germany) 5318 blood samples from drivers with various traffic offences were analysed using full-scale toxicology for psychotropic substances other than alcohol from 1991 to 2000. The 109 samples corresponding to senior drivers of 60 years of age and over were selected for comparison with random samples of a control group of drivers aged between 40 and 49 years. The spectrum of detectable substances, the type of offence and the medical findings were compared. In the senior group only 1/3 of the cases showed any toxicological evidence at all (control group: 62,5%). Benzodiazepines were detected in 64% of the positive samples (control group: 67%). 41% of the benzodiazepine-positive samples originated from female senior drivers (control group: 19%). Among senior drivers, polyvalent use of psychotropic medications was found in only 26% (control group: 75%). Substance levels above the therapeutical range were detected as frequently in the senior group (43%) as in the control group (44%). The medical diagnosis on the symptomatic level of intoxication, which had been assigned by medical doctors after the blood sampling, did not correlate with the actual presence of psychotropic substances in blood. This demonstrates the sophisticated interactions of senso-motor and physical frailties with potential additive substance-related effects when driving skills appear to be compromised in the elderly. Even with the increasing rates of senior drivers in mind, the results do not support giving priority to toxicological screenings of elderly traffic delinquents over younger age groups. However, the focus should be put more on the standardization and enforcement of traffic-related safety advice for elderly drivers by general practitioners and by doctors in medical centres including pharmaceutical side effects on driving ability.