The effect of drug mitigated motion sickness on physiological and psychophysical performance

Coady, Elizabeth Anne (2010) The effect of drug mitigated motion sickness on physiological and psychophysical performance. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to measure physiological and psychophysical responses and cognitive performance of motion sickness (MS) susceptible individuals during exposure to a ship motion simulator. Further, this study investigated the effects of selected classes of anti-MS drugs in suppressing motion sickness induced effects upon physiological adaptations, psychophysical responses and cognitive performance. Thirteen healthy male and female volunteers were recruited to take part in this research (25.1 ± 2.3 years, 79.2 ± 14.6 kg, 174.4 ± 12.1 cm). Each participant ingested seven pharmaceutical preparations, 1 placebo and 6 anti-MS medications including Meclizine, Promethazine and Dexamphetamine, Promethazine and Caffeine, Dimenhydrinate, Scopolamine and Dexamphetamine and Chlorpheniramine prior to exposure to simulated ship motion on a 6 degree of freedom motion base. Sessions lasted up to one hour or until subjective MS ratings forced a termination of the trial. Subjective evaluations of MS symptom onset were taken using Graybiel's Diagnostic Criteria for Grading the Severity of Acute Motion Sickness and a 7-Point nausea rating scale. Defence Research Development Canada's Sustained Operations task batteries were employed to measure cognitive performance and were administered every 10 minutes throughout the motion exposure. Physiological measures, including core body temperature and skin temperatures were sampled continuously throughout the trial at 1 second intervals. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed no statistically significant differences in the physiological responses, however there was a significant difference found in the 7-point nausea scale rating evaluation of psychophysical responses. The placebo trial was significantly greater than any of the intervention trials. In addition to this significant difference, there were apparent rank order tendencies in response to the placebo and drug interventions. From these data there are trends indicating some drugs are better used in some scenarios, such as those requiring cognitive awareness and performance, while other drugs may be applied in situations where the main purpose is for the comfort of the passenger, or of someone whom vigilance and alertness is not required.

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