Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Mendeley  

Zotero  

Rezaee M, ‌Bigdeli I, Makvand S. The Impact of Use Abstinence on Sustained Attention, Prospective Memory and Response Inhibition in Former Chronic Methamphetamine Abusers. MEJDS 2017; 7 :8-8
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-795-en.html

Abstract
Background & Objective: Methamphetamine (METH) is a highly addictive stimulant and sympathomimetic, which is widely abused in the world and imposes substantial global public health and costly social burdens. There is a growing evidence of potential psychological problems and cognitive impairments as a result of prolonged METH use in humans. Individuals with substance dependence frequently show signs of impaired executive functions after prolonged drug abuse. Among these functions, sustained attention, inhibition response, and prospective memory show higher decline and have been studied over and over again. Nonetheless, few studies have examined the role of use abstinence on executive functioning deficits. Those few who did study the phenomenon reported mixed results without consensus.   Addressing this research gap, the current study aimed to evaluate the effect of sustained use abstinence on improving executive dysfunctions in former chronic METH abusers.
Method: In this quasi-experimental study, 20 former chronic METH abusers who recently initiated abstinence use (34.9 ± 3.7 yrs. of age) were selected via multistage sampling.  All the participants had been diagnosed with MA dependence as determined by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID) and had been drug abstinent a maximum of two weeks. Random urine screens were performed at the referring sites to verify drug abstinence, with none of the screens yielding positive results. Evaluations were carried out in intervals of two weeks, two months, and six months after last METH abuse. The participants were administered Continuous Performance Test (CPT), a measure of future memory, and Color- Word Stroop Test to assess sustained attention, prospective memory and response inhibition. Three measures were obtained from CPT (Omission error, commission error, Reaction Time), four measures were obtained from a future memory inventory (self-oriented short-term memory, environment oriented short-term memory, self-oriented long-term memory, environment oriented long-term memory) and five measures were obtained from Color- Word Stroop Test (congruent error, incongruent error, congruent reaction time, incongruent reaction time, interference score). The data were analyzed by Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (GLMRM).
Results: Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance revealed no significant differences between any components of sustained attention (P=0.21). The results of Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance also revealed no significant differences between response inhibition (P=0.47) and prospective memory (P=0.54) scores at two weeks,  two months, and  six months after last METH abuse.
Conclusion: Chronic MA use is becoming increasingly prevalent and leads to a host of harmful health outcomes, including cognitive dysfunction and psychiatric complications. Findings revealed that despite whatever benefits might be seen in the short-term (one month) of use abstinence, there appears to be no period of neuropsychological recovery that may continue over six months, of sustained abstinence. The present study showed that use abstinence (both short and long-term) does not have any significant effect on sustained attention, response inhibition and prospective memory in former chronic abusers of methamphetamine with possible significant clinical implications for the prevention of relapse. Alternatively, it may be that MA-associated deficits within these executive functioning domains may take longer periods of abstinence (e.g., greater than a year) to show significant recovery. These findings demonstrate no impact of use abstinence on cognitive aspects of addiction and irreversibility of METH-associated cognitive deficits, which it is advised to be administered with caution.