Deterioro cognitivo por el consumo de sustancias entre pacientes de 18 a 63 años

Abstract

The lack of studies with regards to the prejudicial consequences of psychotropic substance abuse on cognitive processes makes it necessary an in-depth analysis of its importance. Drug-rehabilitation centers in Cuenca, Ecuador, do not usually take into account neurocognitive stimulation within the treatments they offer. The point of the present study is to test the effect drug abuse in three different cognitive processes (learning, memory and cognitive flexibility). To this aim, a version of the Wisconsin test was computerized for evaluating Reaction Times in Diagnosed-drug-user and Undiagnosed-drug-user/Non-drug-user populations. Data show that Diagnosed-drug-user population significantly has greater Reaction Times in the matching tasks than the Undiagnosed-drug-user/Non-drug-user population; showing more important cognitive deficits in the cognitive areas of learning, memory and cognitive flexibility. On the other hand, there was a positive and significant correlation between Time of Consume and the cognitive deficit. However, Undiagnosed-drug-user/Non-drug-user significantly commit less number of mistakes in those tasks