Synthetic cannabinoids impact on cognitive functions

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Abstract
Background: Synthetic cannabinoids SC are now becoming progressively popular among young people worldwide; little is known about their negative effects. Anger, anxiety, hallucinations, and perceptual changes were the most common psychoactive findings. Substance abuse causes cognitive impairment (CI). This study’s goal is to raise public awareness about the dangers that synthetic cannabinoid intoxication poses to public health. As well as the magnitude of CI in synthetic cannabinoids in comparison with healthy controls. The study included 30 synthetic cannabinoids SC addicts and 30 healthy people. The Wechsler memory scale (WMS), the Benton visual retention test (BVRT), and Trail Making Test (TMT) A and B were used to assess cognitive functions. Addiction Severity Index (ASI), Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorder (SCID-I), and Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Disorder (SCID II). Results: Using BVRT, (96.7%) of the SC use disorder cases had more impaired performance than controls (0%) (P < 0.001). Almost three quarters of the cases had impaired performance on the trail making tests A and B compared to none of the controls (P < 0.001). Similarly, there was a high statistically significant difference between SC use disorder cases and controls in all domains of the WMS. There was no statistically significant correlation between the cognitive scales (BVRT, WMS and TMT) results in relation to age of SC use patients or duration of use. Conclusions: Patients who used synthetic cannabinoids SC were more likely than controls to develop CI, which manifested as impaired visual, auditory, immediate, delayed, and working memory.

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