Reduced memory and attention performance in a population-based sample of young adults with a moderate lifetime use of cannabis, ecstasy and alcohol
Reduced memory and attention performance in a population-based sample of young adults with a moderate lifetime use of cannabis, ecstasy and alcohol
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DOI：
10.1177/0269881108091076
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发表时间：
2009-07-01
影响因子：
4.1
通讯作者：
Schuetz, C. G.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Indlekofer, F.;Piechatzek, M.;Schuetz, C. G.
经常使用非法药物被怀疑会导致认知障碍。有两种物质受到高度关注：3,4-亚甲基二氧基甲基苯丙胺（MDMA或“摇头丸”）和德尔塔-9-四氢大麻酚（THC或“大麻”）。临床前证据，以及对经常服用摇头丸的人的研究表明，使用摇头丸可能对学习、言语记忆和复杂的注意力功能有负面影响。大麻还与注意力不集中以及学习和记忆缺陷的症状有关。在这一研究领域发表的大多数研究都是通过报纸广告或使用口碑策略来招募参与者的。因为参与者通常意识到他们的药物使用对研究设计至关重要，这种意识可能会导致选择偏差或产生预期效应。本研究的重点是注意力和记忆，旨在评估来自大规模流行病学研究的以社区为基础的代表性样本的认知功能。有关药物使用史的现有数据允许对具有不同程度终生药物经历的受试者进行抽样。研究人员对284名年龄在22岁至34岁之间的年轻人进行了认知功能测试。总的来说，他们一生的吸毒经历是适度的。参与者完成了一组神经心理学测试，包括语言学习、记忆和各种注意力功能的测试。采用线性回归分析研究认知功能与终生吸毒经历的关系。摇头丸和大麻的使用与较差的情景记忆功能以剂量相关的方式显著相关。对于注意力测量，发现了小效应量的减少。在紧张性和阶段性警觉性任务、选择性注意任务和警觉性任务中，误差测量显示出小而显著的影响，表明有更强的注意力缺失倾向。没有发现反应时间差异的迹象。这一结果与先前研究中描述的记忆力和注意力下降的情况一致。这些影响相对较小；然而，必须记住的是，这项研究的重点是评估中度吸毒的年轻人，这是一项基于人群的研究。
Regular use of illegal drugs is suspected to cause cognitive impairments. Two substances have received heightened attention: 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or 'ecstasy') and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC or 'cannabis'). Preclinical evidence, as well as human studies examining regular ecstasy consumers, indicated that ecstasy use may have negative effects on learning, verbal memory and complex attentional functions. Cannabis has also been linked to symptoms of inattention and deficits in learning and memory. Most of the published studies in this field of research recruited participants by means of newspaper advertisements or by using word-of-mouth strategies. Because participants were usually aware that their drug use was critical to the research design, this awareness may have caused selection bias or created expectation effects. Focussing on attention and memory, this study aimed to assess cognitive functioning in a community-based representative sample that was derived from a large-scale epidemiological study. Available data concerning drug use history allowed sampling of subjects with varying degrees of lifetime drug experiences. Cognitive functioning was examined in 284 young participants, between 22 and 34 years. In general, their lifetime drug experience was moderate. Participants completed a neuropsychological test battery, including measures for verbal learning, memory and various attentional functions. Linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between cognitive functioning and lifetime experience of drug use. Ecstasy and cannabis use were significantly related to poorer episodic memory function in a dose-related manner. For attentional measures, decrements of small effect sizes were found. Error measures in tonic and phasic alertness tasks, selective attention task and vigilance showed small but significant effects, suggesting a stronger tendency to experience lapses of attention. No indication for differences in reaction time was found. The results are consistent with decrements of memory and attentional performance described in previous studies. These effects are relatively small; however, it must be kept in mind that this study focussed on assessing young adults with moderate drug use from a population-based study.