One factor in determining the course of treatment for any condition includes the quality of life impact on the patient and their ability to perform day to day functions, including driving a vehicle.

For many with arthritis that treatment can include moderate, long term use opioid-based painkillers such as morphine. A recent study performed by a team at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago looked into the impacts of opioid-based medication on patients’ ability to drive.

The research was conducted using 100 participants, 51 long term oral morphine users and 49 who were not taking any pain medication. All of the participants were monitored in a driving simulator for 12 minutes which measured deviation from the centerline, weaving, number of accidents and reaction time to unexpected events.

Both groups averaged 3.83 feet of weaving. The morphine group averaged 5.33 accidents compared with 5.04 for the control group, however the reaction time of the morphine group was slightly better at .67 seconds, compared with .69 seconds for the control group.

According to Dr. Asokumar Buvanendran, associate professor of anesthesiology at Rush, the findings suggest that patients who require long-term pain medication may “become tolerant” to side effects that could potentially impair normal function.