Prevalence and clinical characteristics of cognitive impairment in male patients of methamphetamine dependence: The moderating role of childhood trauma.

BACKGROUND

Both methamphetamine (MA) use and childhood trauma are highly prevalent, particularly among male populations, and both are associated with cognitive impairment. However, the role of childhood trauma on cognition remains unclear in male individuals with MA dependence.

METHODS

A total of 1088 male subjects were enrolled, including 740 patients with MA dependence and 348 healthy subjects. The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) were applied. After controlling for a number of demographic factors, the moderating effect was tested in the whole sample using Model 1 in SPSS Process with 5000 bootstrap samples. Network analysis was used to detect the central variables with the Mixed Graphical Model in JASP 0.95.4.0.

RESULTS

The rate of cognitive impairment (32.0 % vs 8.3 %) in patients with MA dependence were significantly higher than those in healthy subjects (all p < 0.05). Childhood trauma significantly moderated the association between MA use and cognitive impairment (B = 4.10, p<0.01). Specifically, in subjects with childhood trauma, MA use had a smaller effect on cognitive function than in those without. According to the network analysis, the variables with the highest strength centrality and expected influence were MA use, smoking status and physical abuse.

CONCLUSIONS

In male patients with MA dependence, childhood trauma may blunt cognitive impairment caused by MA. The possible explanation may be attenuated effects of reward signals in MA on cognition, floor effect or survivor bias.