TU Dresden, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Dresden, Germany.
TU Dresden, Faculty of Medicine, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Dresden, Germany.
BMC Psychiatry. 2021 Mar 25;21(1):166. doi: 10.1186/s12888-021-03169-3.
Methamphetamine (MA) use has been shown to be associated with deficits in impulsivity, verbal learning, and working memory. Additionally, methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) is related to various brain changes, especially in adolescent users who might be more vulnerable to detrimental effects on brain development. However, little is known about the relationship between adolescent MA use and cognitive impairment. This cross-sectional study aims to explore how the presence of a MUD in adolescents is related to impairments of verbal memory, inhibition, and alertness.
N = 18 psychiatric outpatients with MUD were matched in terms of depressivity, age, and gender to n = 18 adolescents with other substance use disorders (SUDs), as well as n = 18 controls without SUDs. We compared these three groups on the Verbal Learning and Memory Task (VLMT), and the alertness and go/noGo subtests of the Test of Attentional Performance (TAP). Additionally, Spearman's rank order correlation coefficients were calculated to investigate whether cognitive functioning was directly associated with frequency of past year MA use.
The three groups differed significantly in their verbal learning performance (H (2) = 11.7, p = .003, η = .19), but not in short-term memory, inhibition, cued recall, or alertness. Post hoc tests revealed significant differences in verbal learning between the MA using group and the control group without a SUD (U = 56.5, p = .001, η = .31). Frequency of past year MA use correlated negatively with short-term memory (ρ = -.25, p < .01) and verbal learning (ρ = -.41, p < .01). No other cognitive variables correlated significantly with MA use frequency. Significant p-values were considered significant after Bonferroni correction.
Adolescent MUD outpatients with regular MA use show specific impairment in verbal learning performance, but not in other basal cognitive functions when compared to adolescents without a MUD. Verbal learning and short-term memory performance is negatively associated with the frequency of MA use. Future research should apply longitudinal designs to investigate long-term effects of methamphetamine and reversibility of these effects on cognitive functioning.
已证实，甲基苯丙胺（MA）的使用与冲动、言语学习和工作记忆方面的缺陷有关。此外，甲基苯丙胺使用障碍（MUD）与各种大脑变化有关，尤其是在青少年使用者中，他们更容易受到对大脑发育的不利影响。然而，关于青少年 MA 使用与认知障碍之间的关系知之甚少。本横断面研究旨在探讨青少年 MUD 的存在与言语记忆、抑制和警觉性受损之间的关系。
将 18 名患有 MUD 的精神病门诊患者与年龄、性别相匹配的 18 名患有其他物质使用障碍（SUD）的青少年以及 18 名无 SUD 的对照组进行匹配。我们比较了这三组在言语学习和记忆任务（VLMT）以及注意力表现测试（TAP）的警觉性和 Go/NoGo 子测试中的表现。此外，还计算了 Spearman 等级相关系数，以研究认知功能是否与过去一年 MA 使用频率直接相关。
三组在言语学习成绩方面存在显著差异（H（2）=11.7，p=.003，η=.19），但在短期记忆、抑制、线索回忆或警觉性方面无差异。事后检验显示，MA 使用组与无 SUD 的对照组之间的言语学习成绩存在显著差异（U=56.5，p=.001，η=.31）。过去一年 MA 使用频率与短期记忆呈负相关（ρ=-.25，p<.01）和言语学习呈负相关（ρ=-.41，p<.01）。其他认知变量与 MA 使用频率无显著相关性。经 Bonferroni 校正后，显著性 p 值被认为有意义。
与无 MUD 的青少年相比，有规律 MA 使用的青少年 MUD 门诊患者在言语学习表现方面存在特定的缺陷，但在其他基础认知功能方面没有缺陷。言语学习和短期记忆表现与 MA 使用频率呈负相关。未来的研究应采用纵向设计来研究 MA 的长期影响以及这些影响对认知功能的可逆性。
