[Psychostimulants consumption for neuroenhancement among medical students from National University of Córdoba].

Objectives: To determine prevalence of psychostimulants (PS) consumption among medical students of National University of Córdoba (UNC) trying to improve their concentration and alertness when studying as well as potentially related factors.
Methods: Methods: urvey was designed. Absolute and relative frequency was calculated for qualitative variables; and mead, median, mode and range were obtained for quantitative ones. InfoStat software was used and Chi-square and Student t tests were applied when appropriate.
Results: 99,15% consumed a PS, being coffee predominant in 93,05%, mate 91,02%, tea 74,75%, chocolate 70%, soft drinks 58,64%, energy drinks 37,97%, tobacco 22,71%, Cafiaspirina® 13%, Arriba!quenotebochen® 9%, coca leaves 8%. 8,3% referred modafinil and methylphenidate consumption and 45% of them perceived an improvement of their academic performance after this. Consuming these drugs was associated to masculine sex (p=0,0275), older age, (p˂0,0001), not professing any religion (p=0,0004), higher courses (p˂0,0001), more academic difficulty (p˂0,0001), delay in the degree (p=0,0009), less than 4 hours of sleep before and exam (p=0,0002), psychological or psychiatric diagnosis (p=0,0017), anxiety disorder (p=0,0068), depressive disorder (p=0,0275) and higher consumption level of caffeine (p˂0,0268). No association was found with working, practicing sports or living with their families.
Conclusion: PS consumption to improve academic performance is a usual practice among the students who integrated the sample.
(Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.)