The influence of polypharmacological antidepressive treatment on central nervous information processing of depressed patients: implications for fitness to drive.

Antidepressive medication may cause impairment of psychomotor functioning relevant to psychosocial adaptation and fitness to drive. This impairment seems to be less severe by activating antidepressants (SSRI, MAOI). In clinical settings, however, polypharmacological treatment of depressive disorders is frequent. This study evaluates the influence of antidepressants and common comedications on central nervous information processing concerning the ability to drive. Inpatients (n = 44) with major depression (ICD-10) were investigated under steady state plasma level condition. The data were recorded by the Act & React Testsystem ART-90 and analyzed according to medication, severity of illness and age. 88.6% of the patients failed to pass all the tests. With respect to different groups of antidepressants, no differences in psychomotor reaction performance were observed in polydrug treatment. The impact of these results on the patients' fitness to drive is discussed.