The Effect of Bromazepam on Psychomotor Activity and Subjective Mood

Abstract

The effects of short-term (acute) doses of bromazepam were studied in a double-blind trial with the aid of three dosage groups comprising a total of fifty-five healthy male medical students (who received placebo, and 1.5 mg or 3.0 mg bromazepam, respectively). Subjective well-being was recorded through self-ratings by the volunteers, and the variables of psychomotor function by standard testing instruments. In terms of subjective well-being, fatigue and decreased performance (statistically confirmed throughout) were reported by the probands in all three dosage groups after they were administered either the drug or placebo. None of the dose-effect relationships were statistically significant, although this trend was more pronounced, purely in quantitative terms, in the group that received 3 mg bromazepam than in either the placebo or the 1.5 mg bromazepam group. In the reaction time test and in critical flicker frequency (CFF) testing, the trend mentioned above was confirmed. In the attentiveness and memory span test, learning effects were statistically confirmed in equally uniform fashion. The action of the substance was again not statistically significant. It may be concluded from this that subjective, and also in part objective, fatigue and decreased performance were related to the type of trial design employed, and not, generally speaking, to the action of the substance. However, again independently of the drug's activity, statistical confirmation was obtained of improved performance and/or learning activity in three variables of the alertness testing apparatus. Variables of driving ability were not adversely affected, but – if anything – stabilized. Our investigation studied the single-dose schedules of bromazepam – viz. 1.5 mg and 3 mg – that are most commonly prescribed for patients. The subacute and personality-related effects of the drug will be the subject of a later report.