Pighi Marcella, Pontoni Giancarlo, Sinisi Arianna, Ferrari Silvia, Mattei Giorgio, Pingani Luca, Simoni Elena, Galeazzi Gian Maria
Villa Rosa, Private Accreditated Hospital, Modena 41125, Italy.
Psychiatry Section, Psychophysiological Selection Office, Italian Army National Recruitment and Selection Center, Foligno 06034 (PG), Italy.
Brain Sci. 2018 Nov 9;8(11):197. doi: 10.3390/brainsci8110197.
International media has paid attention to the use of substances by healthy subjects to enhance cognitive performance. Medical students are liable to use cognitive enhancers (CE) with the aim of improving academic performance. The study explored use and attitudes toward the use of CE in Italian medical students. The authors anonymously surveyed 433 medical students of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia with an ad hoc 36-items questionnaire. CE were broadly defined as any substance taken with the purpose of improving cognitive functions, from readily available beverages and substances, such as coffee, tea, energy drinks, and supplements to prescription only medication, such as psychostimulants and modafinil. Response rate was 83.8% ( = 363). While the majority of the students (74.7%; = 271) said that they had used substances to improve cognitive functions, only 2 students (0.6%) reported the use of prescription-only medications in the last 30 days. Main reasons for not taking prescription-only drugs were concerns about safety and side effects, reported by 83.3% of students ( = 295). A positive attitude toward use was held by 60.3% ( = 219) subjects. The surveyed Italian medical students used many substances as CE, but this did not seem to apply significantly to psychostimulants. A multivariable analysis showed that the following variables were related to the propensity to use substances as CE: male gender, self-reported memory impairment, concerns about worsening of cognitive performance, lifetime use of at least one illegal substance, use of any substance (both legal or illegal) in the last 30 days.
国际媒体已关注到健康受试者使用物质来提高认知能力的情况。医科学生倾向于使用认知增强剂（CE）以提高学业成绩。该研究探讨了意大利医科学生对使用CE的情况及态度。作者用一份专门设计的包含36个条目的问卷，对摩德纳和雷焦艾米利亚大学的433名医科学生进行了匿名调查。CE被广泛定义为任何为改善认知功能而服用的物质，从容易获得的饮料和物质，如咖啡、茶、能量饮料及补充剂，到仅需处方的药物，如精神兴奋剂和莫达非尼。回复率为83.8%（n = 363）。虽然大多数学生（74.7%；n = 271）表示他们曾使用物质来改善认知功能，但只有2名学生（0.6%）报告在过去30天内使用过仅需处方的药物。不服用仅需处方药物的主要原因是担心安全性和副作用，83.3%的学生（n = 295）报告了这一点。60.3%（n = 219）的受试者对使用持积极态度。接受调查的意大利医科学生使用多种物质作为CE，但这似乎对精神兴奋剂的适用程度不高。多变量分析表明，以下变量与将物质用作CE的倾向有关：男性、自我报告的记忆障碍、对认知能力下降的担忧、曾使用至少一种非法物质、在过去30天内使用过任何物质（合法或非法）。
