Effects of single-dose methylphenidate on cognitive performance in patients with traumatic brain injury: a double-blind placebo-controlled study

Objectives: To determine the effect of a single dose of methylphenidate on the cognitive performance of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and particularly on working memory and visuospatial attention. Design: A double-blind placebo-controlled study. The subjects were randomly divided into...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inClinical rehabilitation Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 24 - 30
Main Authors Kim, Yun-Hee, Ko, Myoung-Hwan, Na, Seung-Yong, Park, Se-Hun, Kim, Kee-Won
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications 01.01.2006
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

Loading…
More Information
Summary:Objectives: To determine the effect of a single dose of methylphenidate on the cognitive performance of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and particularly on working memory and visuospatial attention. Design: A double-blind placebo-controlled study. The subjects were randomly divided into an experimental group taking methylphenidate and a control group taking a placebo. Setting: The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of a university hospital. Subjects: Eighteen subjects with TBI (16 male and two female) were enrolled. Interventions: The patients were given 20 mg methylphenidate or a placebo. Cognitive assessments were performed at three times: before the medication as a baseline, 2 h after medication and at follow-up (48 h later). Main measures: Cognitive assessments consisted of working memory tasks and endogenous visuospatial attention tasks designed using SuperLabPro 2.0 software. Response accuracy and reaction time were measured. Results: There were significant improvements in response accuracy in the methylphenidate group compared with the placebo group for both the working memory and visuospatial attention tasks. A significant decrease in the reaction time was also observed in the methylphenidate group only for the working memory task. Conclusions: The administration of single-dose methylphenidate has an effect in improving cognitive functioning following a TBI. The effects were most prominent regarding the reaction time of the working memory.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-News-1
ObjectType-Feature-3
content type line 23
ISSN:0269-2155
1477-0873
DOI:10.1191/0269215506cr927oa