PERFORMANCE STUDIES WITH DIAZEPAM AND ITS HYDROXYLATED METABOLITES

Visuo-motor coordination has been used to study the immediate and residual effects of benzodiazepines on performance in man. The technique provides dose and time response data related to the decrement and the persistence of impaired performance. With the overnight ingestion of flurazepam hydrochloride 30 mg and nitrazepam 10 mg, performance was impaired to 16 h and, at least, 19 h, respectively. Performance was not impaired after the overnight ingestion of diazepam, 5 and 10 mg, temazepam 10, 20 and 30 mg or oxazepam 15 and 30 mg. However, with temazepam 30 mg there was a trend toward impaired performance, and with oxazepam 45 mg, performance was impaired 10 h after ingestion. With morning ingestion, coordination was impaired 0.5 and 2.5 h after diazepam 10 mg, at 0.5 h after temazepam 20 mg, and after oxazepam 30 mg at 2.5 and 4.5 hours. The studies suggest that diazepam 5-10 mg, temazepam 10-20 mg and oxazepam 15-30 mg may be of use in the management of sleep disturbance when impaired performance the next day is to be avoided.