Psychopharmacology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Miotic and subject-rated effects of therapeutic doses of tapentadol, tramadol, and hydromorphone in occasional opioid users.
Tapentadol is a novel analgesic that activates mu-opioid receptors and blocks norepinephrine reuptake. There is very little information available regarding the non-analgesic pharmacodynamic effects of tapentadol. ⋯ The highest tested dose of tapentadol produced a profile of positive effects comparable to that of hydromorphone, whereas tramadol produced positive and negative subject-rated effects. The mixed findings for tramadol are consistent with previous findings indicating that it has a distinct profile of effects relative to prototypic opioids. Future research should examine the effects of higher tapentadol doses, as well as the factors contributing to the different subject-rated profile of effects observed for tramadol relative to tapentadol and hydromorphone.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of three therapeutic doses of codeine/paracetamol on driving performance, a psychomotor vigilance test, and subjective feelings.
Some recent pharmacoepidemiological studies revealed an elevated risk of driving accidents after opioid analgesics uses. Among analgesics, codeine is often associated with paracetamol in numerous pharmaceutical specialties. ⋯ This study did not reveal any significant impairment in performance due to the three therapeutic doses used in healthy young volunteers. However, the relationships between drug blood concentration and behavioral measures suggest that an inter-subject variability in blood concentration may influence the power of the observed drug effect.