Cocaine users differ from normals on cognitive tasks which show poorer performance during drug abstinence

Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2008;34(1):109-21. doi: 10.1080/00952990701764821.

Abstract

Seventeen non-treatment seeking cocaine-dependent individuals participated in three-week longitudinal inpatient studies of cognitive changes during drug use and abstinence. Protocols included three days drug-free baseline, three days cocaine self-administration, and two weeks complete abstinence. A repeatable cognitive battery showed attention and delayed verbal recognition memory but not working memory to be impaired in cocaine users compared to age- and sex-matched normative values. Attention was significantly poorer during the first and second week of abstinence compared to days on which cocaine was used suggesting that certain cocaine-induced impairments may be acutely normalized by cocaine use, but resurface during abstinence.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attention / drug effects
  • Clinical Protocols
  • Cocaine-Related Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Cocaine-Related Disorders / epidemiology
  • Cocaine-Related Disorders / psychology*
  • Cognition Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Cognition Disorders / psychology*
  • Connecticut / epidemiology
  • Crack Cocaine / administration & dosage
  • Crack Cocaine / pharmacology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Neuropsychological Tests / statistics & numerical data*
  • New York / epidemiology
  • Reference Values
  • Self Administration
  • Smoking / psychology
  • Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / epidemiology
  • Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / psychology*

Substances

  • Crack Cocaine