Transdermally applied scopolamine does not impair psychomotor performance

Conclusion

These results demonstrate that vigilance and sensorimotor abilities during continuous transdermal administration of scopolamine are not impaired. This is due to the dose of scopolamine being high enough to evoke an antiemetic effect but with minimal elicitation of undersired side effects. Wesnes and Warburton (1984), who used two oral doses in a pulse mode, showed either no effect on a rapid visual information-processing performance task (0.6 mg scopolamine) or a nearly 20% decrease in psychomotor performance (1.2 mg scopolamine) 30 min after drug intake. This is consistent with data from a recent publication (Muir and Metcalfe 1983) showing peak plasma concentrations after an oral dose of 415 μg scopolamine at approximately 30 min. Such peak concentrations are know to be responsible for unpleasant CNS side effects such as drowsiness, giddiness, confusion, and memory disturbancies (Shaw and Urquart 1980). The conclusion of Wesnes and Warburton that “the effects of scopolamine are... of relevance for example to sea-borne personnel engaged in tasks requiring sustained mental alertness” holds true only for scopolamine given in a pulse mode butnot for TTS-scopolamine.