PMID- 15276218
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20041207
LR  - 20131121
IS  - 0376-8716 (Print)
IS  - 0376-8716 (Linking)
VI  - 75
IP  - 2
DP  - 2004 Aug 16
TI  - Residual neuropsychological effects of illicit 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine 
      (MDMA) in individuals with minimal exposure to other drugs.
PG  - 135-47
AB  - BACKGROUND: A substantial literature suggests that users of illicit 
      3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "ecstasy") display residual cognitive 
      deficits. Most MDMA users, however, use other illicit drugs as well, so it is 
      difficult to be certain that these deficits are due to MDMA, as opposed to other 
      drug use or additional confounding factors. METHODS: We administered a battery of 
      neuropsychological tests to 23 young MDMA users who reported minimal exposure to 
      any other drugs, including alcohol, and to 16 comparison individuals equally 
      involved with the rave subculture, but reporting no MDMA use. We compared the 
      groups by regression analyses adjusting for numerous potentially confounding 
      variables. To test for a possible dose-response effect, we also performed a 
      median split of 12 moderate MDMA users (22-50 lifetime uses) and 11 heavy users 
      (60-450 uses), and compared these subgroups with non-users. RESULTS: MDMA users 
      as a whole performed worse than non-users on most test measures, but these 
      comparisons rarely reached statistical significance. This picture changed 
      markedly in the subgroup analysis: although moderate users displayed virtually no 
      differences from non-users on any measures, the heavy users displayed significant 
      deficits on many measures, particularly those associated with mental processing 
      speed and impulsivity. These differences did not appear explainable by 
      differences in family-of-origin variables, verbal IQ, levels of depression, or 
      time since last MDMA use. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of residual cognitive 
      deficits, even among unusually "pure" frequent users of illicit MDMA, analyzed 
      with adjustment for confounding variables, augments the evidence that MDMA 
      itself, rather than some associated factor, is responsible for the deficits 
      observed.
FAU - Halpern, John H
AU  - Halpern JH
AD  - Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, Harvard Medical School, Biological 
      Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478-9106, 
      USA. john_halpern@hms.harvard.edu
FAU - Pope, Harrison G Jr
AU  - Pope HG Jr
FAU - Sherwood, Andrea R
AU  - Sherwood AR
FAU - Barry, Steven
AU  - Barry S
FAU - Hudson, James I
AU  - Hudson JI
FAU - Yurgelun-Todd, Deborah
AU  - Yurgelun-Todd D
LA  - eng
GR  - DA-10346/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States
GR  - K23-DA-00494/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Comparative Study
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PT  - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
PL  - Ireland
TA  - Drug Alcohol Depend
JT  - Drug and alcohol dependence
JID - 7513587
RN  - KE1SEN21RM (N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine)
SB  - IM
CIN - Drug Alcohol Depend. 2004 Aug 16;75(2):149-52; discussion 153. PMID: 15276219
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Cognition Disorders/*chemically induced/*psychology
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine/*toxicity
MH  - *Neuropsychological Tests/statistics & numerical data
MH  - Regression Analysis
EDAT- 2004/07/28 05:00
MHDA- 2004/12/16 09:00
CRDT- 2004/07/28 05:00
PHST- 2003/07/14 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2004/01/29 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2004/02/03 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2004/07/28 05:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2004/12/16 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2004/07/28 05:00 [entrez]
AID - S0376871604000626 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2004.02.008 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Drug Alcohol Depend. 2004 Aug 16;75(2):135-47. doi: 
      10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2004.02.008.