1. Other drug use does not impact cognitive impairments in chronic ketamine users
- Author
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Shih Ku Lin, Wai Kwong Tang, Huajun Liang, Chenxi Zhang, and Gabor S. Ungvari
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Substance-Related Disorders ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Audiology ,Neuropsychological Tests ,Toxicology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Executive Function ,Young Adult ,0302 clinical medicine ,Cognition ,Visual memory ,medicine ,Humans ,Pharmacology (medical) ,Ketamine ,Cognitive Dysfunction ,Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance ,media_common ,Pharmacology ,business.industry ,Working memory ,Illicit Drugs ,Abstinence ,Executive functions ,030227 psychiatry ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Memory, Short-Term ,Quality of Life ,Female ,Verbal memory ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Background Ketamine abuse causes cognitive impairments, which negatively impact on users’ abstinence, prognosis, and quality of life. Results of cognitive impairments in chronic ketamine users have been inconsistent across studies, possibly due to the small sample sizes and the confounding effects of concomitant use of other illicit drugs. This study investigated the cognitive impairment and its related factors in chronic ketamine users with a large sample size and explored the impact of another drug use on cognitive functions. Methods Cognitive functions, including working, verbal and visual memory and executive functions were assessed in ketamine users: 286 non-heavy other drug users and 279 heavy other drug users, and 261 healthy controls. Correlations between cognitive impairment and patterns of ketamine use were analysed. Results Verbal and visual memory were impaired, but working memory and executive functions were intact for all ketamine users. No significant cognitive differences were found between the two ketamine groups. Greater number of days of ketamine use in the past month was associated with worse visual memory performance in non-heavy other drug users. Higher dose of ketamine use was associated with worse short-term verbal memory in heavy other drug users. Conclusion Verbal and visual memory are impaired in chronic ketamine users. Other drug use appears to have no impact on ketamine users’ cognitive performance.
- Published
- 2017