Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Germany.
Addict Biol. 2013 Jul;18(4):752-61. doi: 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2011.00429.x. Epub 2012 Feb 17.
The aim of the present study was to examine neurocognitive function associated with chronic nicotine use. A total of 2163 healthy participants (1002 smokers, 1161 never-smoking controls) participated in a population-based case-control design. The main outcome measures were six cognitive domain factors derived from a neuropsychological test battery. In smokers, the battery was administered after controlled smoking of one cigarette. Analyses included age, sex and education as covariates. Results demonstrated small, but significant deficits in smokers for visual attention (P<0.001) and cognitive impulsivity (P<0.006), while verbal episodic memory, verbal fluency, verbal working memory, and Stroop-interference did not differ between groups. These attention/impulsivity deficits were also present in smokers with only a low amount of cigarette consumption. Lifetime nicotine use (pack-years) was not correlated with cognition in smokers. In conclusion, this study confirmed subtle and specific cognitive deficits in non-deprived smokers. The independence of these deficits from consumption intensity may argue for an a priori deficit of some cognitive abilities in smokers. These specific deficits may constitute intermediate phenotypes for genetic research on nicotine use.
本研究旨在探讨与慢性尼古丁使用相关的神经认知功能。共有 2163 名健康参与者（1002 名吸烟者，1161 名从不吸烟者对照）参与了基于人群的病例对照设计。主要观察指标为神经心理测试组合得出的六个认知领域因素。在吸烟者中，在受控吸烟一支香烟后进行了电池测试。分析包括年龄、性别和教育作为协变量。结果表明，吸烟者的视觉注意力（P<0.001）和认知冲动性（P<0.006）存在较小但显著的缺陷，而言语情景记忆、言语流畅性、言语工作记忆和斯特鲁普干扰在两组之间没有差异。这些注意力/冲动性缺陷在仅吸烟量较低的吸烟者中也存在。终生尼古丁使用（包年）与吸烟者的认知无关。总之，本研究证实了非剥夺性吸烟者存在微妙而特定的认知缺陷。这些缺陷与消费强度的独立性可能表明吸烟者的某些认知能力存在先天缺陷。这些特定的缺陷可能构成尼古丁使用的遗传研究的中间表型。
