Instituut voor Neuropathische Pijn

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Polyneuropathie en autorijden

Patienten met een polyneuropathie hebben soms duidelijk last bij autorijden van het verminderde gevoel in de benen, een verminderde kracht van de voeten en daarnaast komen soms de sufmakende eigenschappen van de pijnstillers voor. Een studie in de VS uit 2009 keek specifiek naar de effecten van polyneuropathie op autorijden.

Hun bevindingen waren ^[1]:

Surveys from 260 subjects demonstrated that 40.6% were involved in traffic accidents (0.11 accidents/year). Their accident rate was 10.8 MVAs per million vehicle miles traveled (MVA/MVMT), compared to 3.71 MVA/MVMT in 55-59-year-old drivers and 3.72 in 60-64-year-olds (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data). In all, 72.4% cited their neuropathy and 55.2% cited their medications as playing a role in their accidents, and 51.6% changed their driving habits after developing neuropathy.

MVA staat voor motor vehicle accidents (MVAs).

De conclusie was:

We conclude that accident frequency and discomfort with driving are higher in neuropathy patients compared to age-matched national statistics. However, most patients seem to change habits according to their ability to drive; as such, driving issues should be addressed with caution and on a case-by-case basis.

Auteur: prof.dr. Jan M. Keppel Hesselink, arts-farmacoloog, november 2009

Referenties

[1]: Cho SC, Katzberg HD, Rama A, Kim BJ, Roh H, Park J, Katz J, So YT. | Driving with polyneuropathy. | Muscle Nerve. | 2010 Mar;41(3):324-8.