Neurocognitive Dysfunctions in People with Concurrent Cannabis Use and Opioid Dependence: A Cross-Sectional, Controlled Study

• Published in: Journal of psychoactive drugs p. 1
• Main Authors: Ghosh, Abhishek, Shaktan, Alka, Verma, Abhishek, Basu, Debasish, Rana, Devender K, Nehra, Ritu, Ahuja, Chirag K, Modi, Manish, Singh, Paramjit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 22.01.2024
• Subjects: dependence; Cannabis; comorbidity; neurocognition; opioids
• ISSN: 2159-9777
• DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2024.2308213

Cannabis and opioid co-dependence is independently associated with cognitive impairments. We examined neurocognitive dysfunctions in people with concurrent opioid dependence with cannabis dependence (OD+CD) or cannabis use (OD+CU) compared to those with only opioid dependence (OD) and healthy controls (HC). We selected adult participants, any sex, who met the diagnosis of OD (  = 268), OD+CU (  = 58), and OD + CD (  = 115). We recruited 68 education-matched HC. We administeredStandard progressive matrices (SPM), Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST), Iowa gambling task (IGT), Trail making tests A and B (TMT), and verbal and visual working memory 1-, 2-backtests. 496 (97.5%) were men, and 13 (2.5%) were women. In WCST, OD and OD+CD had significantly higher non-perseverative errors than HC. OD+CD group completed significantly lesser categories than HC. In verbal working memory 2-back, HC scored significantly fewer errors than OD and OD +CD. All patient groups, OD, OD+CU, and OD+CD, scored higher commission errors than HC in visual working memory 1-back. OD and OD+CD scored higher commission and total errors than the controls. OD+CU showed lesser error score than HC in TMT B. Cannabis and opioid co-dependence contribute to cognitive impairments, especially in working memory and executive functions.