Marc J Kaufman, James I Hudson, Gen Kanayama, Samantha Muse, Jiana Schnabel, Rosalind Sokoll, Harrison G Pope
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Long-term use of supraphysiologic doses of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) has been associated with impaired visuospatial memory in young men but little is known about its cognitive effects in middle-aged men.Objectives: We compared cognition in middle-aged men with histories of long-term AAS use and age-matched non-users.Methods: We administered cognitive tests from the CANTAB battery to 76 weightlifters aged 37-60 years (mean [SD] 48.5 [6.5] years), of whom 51 reported at least 2 years of cumulative AAS use and 25 reported no AAS exposure.Results: We found no significant AAS user versus non-user group differences on visuospatial, verbal memory, emotional recognition, or executive function tasks (corrected p's ≥ .00089; effect sizes ≤ .5).Conclusions: Our null visuospatial task findings contrast with our prior younger cohort study (mean age 37.1 [7.1] years), in which we found impaired visuospatial task performance in people who use AAS, and with other reports of cognitive impairments in younger men use AAS. Men who use AAS may develop early visuospatial memory deficits that stabilize by middle age while middle-aged non-users' performance may "catch up" due to normal age-related visuospatial declines. Similar effects could contribute to our null findings on other tasks. Between-study cohort substance use differences or environmental factor differences that modify cognition, such as study geographical location and time of year, also could contribute to our discordant findings. Since young adult male AAS users experience increased mortality from unnatural causes, improving our understanding of AAS cognitive effects in this age group is important.
期刊介绍:
The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse (AJDAA) is an international journal published six times per year and provides an important and stimulating venue for the exchange of ideas between the researchers working in diverse areas, including public policy, epidemiology, neurobiology, and the treatment of addictive disorders. AJDAA includes a wide range of translational research, covering preclinical and clinical aspects of the field. AJDAA covers these topics with focused data presentations and authoritative reviews of timely developments in our field. Manuscripts exploring addictions other than substance use disorders are encouraged. Reviews and Perspectives of emerging fields are given priority consideration.
Areas of particular interest include: public health policy; novel research methodologies; human and animal pharmacology; human translational studies, including neuroimaging; pharmacological and behavioral treatments; new modalities of care; molecular and family genetic studies; medicinal use of substances traditionally considered substances of abuse.