Screening for Cognitive Dysfunction in Amphetamine Users in Saudi Arabia; a Case-control Investigation Using Propensity Score Matching Analysis

ABSTRACT

Amphetamine users have deficits in cognitive performance; however, the effects of duration and amount of use on cognitive decline remain elusive. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlates of cognitive functioning in amphetamine users in Saudi Arabia. This was a case-control community-based study, using an Arabic adaptation of Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE). The study compared users of amphetamine (n = 50) and controls (n = 50) in terms of performance on the ACE. Amphetamine users underperformed controls in the cognitive domains of attention, memory, language, fluency, and visuospatial faculties, even after controlling for psychiatric and sociodemographic variables. Heavy and prolonged use of amphetamine was associated with worse cognitive performance. Use of amphetamine at lower doses was not associated with worsening of cognitive functioning. The study adds to the evidence that amphetamine use is associated with impairment in cognitive functioning in Saudi Arabia. This has implications in terms of designing therapeutic interventions that account for potential cognitive difficulties in amphetamine abusers.

KEYWORDS:

• Amphetamine use
• cognitive dysfunction
• Arabic ACE
• memory
• Saudi Arabia

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all participating patients and controls for their valuable time and cooperation. We thank all the nursing staff in the Armed Forces Centre for Psychiatric Care in Taif for their tremendous help. We also thank the psychology trainees who helped in collecting and organizing data for the current project. Special thanks to Dr Rafat Abdulgawad, senior clinical psychologist for his help in data collection. We also thank the anonymous peer reviewers and Dr Joseph Guydish the editor for the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs for their extremely helpful suggestions that improved the quality of our work considerably.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability

Data will be available from the corresponding author upon request.

Additional information

Funding

None was provided for the conduction of this study.