Effect of etilic alcohol (EA) on driving abilities

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Effect of etilic alcohol (EA) on driving abilities Umberto Bivona1*, J. Rigon1, M. Matteis1, G. Onder2, S. Catani1, M.P Ciurli1 and R. Formisano1 1 Santa Lucia Foundation, Italy 2 Catholic University, Italy Objectives: To verify that Italian law limits for driving (EA blood level less than 0.5 grams per liter) are accurate to prevent risk behaviours while driving, due to lack of attention, executive functions and imprudence. Methods: Thirty-two healthy volunteers (M=16, F=16; mean age: 30.9 years, SD = 8.3; Educational Level: 16.5 years, SD = 2.2) were submitted to both a neuropsychological battery of tests assessing attention and executive functions, and to a questionnaire evaluating the strategic level of the driving process and subject’s imprudence. The assessment was performed before and after having taken enough alcohol to reach at least a blood EA level of 0.5 grams per liter. Results: The study, performed using standardized tools and uniform conditions of alcohol assumption, revealed that verbal fluency and all the attentive functions (tonic and phasic alertness, selective, divided and sustained attention) in our subjects worsened at blood EA level of 0.5 g/l. Even if in both selective and divided attention the presence of alcohol in the blood didn’t compromise the accuracy in selecting the target stimuli, we found a significance increasing of RT (p<0.05) that might indicate the negative influence of the alcoholic substance on these attentive components as a whole. No significant differences were found at the Driving Strategic Competency Questionnaire performance after alcohol assumption, probably due to unimpaired intellectual driving strategic competence. The gender seems to be irrelevant to determine any decline of the examined variables. In order to evaluate the possible effect of EA even at blood level lower than 0.5g/l, a statistical analysis was conducted comparing performances obtained respectively at upper and lower blood EA levels than the median value (0.52 g/l). Even at low EA rate, subjects had a significant decrease of both semantic verbal fluency and alertness and divided attention performance. Conclusions: These data, even if obtained in a small sample, showed a negative effect of EA (at the Italian law limit) on some neuropsychological variables, commonly involved in driving performance. Moreover, a negative effect of the EA on some attentive and executive functions has been found even at EA levels lower than 0.5 g/l. This study suggests the utility to reconsider the cut-off of 0.5 grams per liter provided by the Italian law, with respect to the driver and public safety. Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Turkey, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Attention Citation: Bivona U, Rigon J, Matteis M, Onder G, Catani S, Ciurli M and Formisano R (2008). Effect of etilic alcohol (EA) on driving abilities. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.097 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 02 Dec 2008; Published Online: 02 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: Umberto Bivona, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy, u.bivona@hsantalucia.it Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Umberto Bivona J. Rigon M. Matteis G. Onder S. Catani M.P Ciurli R. Formisano Google Umberto Bivona J. Rigon M. Matteis G. Onder S. Catani M.P Ciurli R. Formisano Google Scholar Umberto Bivona J. Rigon M. Matteis G. Onder S. Catani M.P Ciurli R. Formisano PubMed Umberto Bivona J. Rigon M. Matteis G. Onder S. Catani M.P Ciurli R. Formisano Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.