Consumo de psicoestimulantes como potenciadores cognitivos por estudiantes de Medicina de Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

MARTINS, MARÍA FLORENCIA; CARLINI, VALERIA PAOLA; VANONI, SUSANA

Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias Médicas de Córdoba

Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

Lugar: Córdoba; Año: 2020 vol. 77 p. 254 - 259

0014-6722

Objectives: To determine prevalence of psychostimulants (PS) consumption among medical students of National University of Córdoba (UNC) trying to improve their concentration and alertness when studying as well as potentially related factors.Methods: Methods: urvey was designed. Absolute and relative frequency was calculated for qualitative variables; and mead, median, mode and range were obtained for quantitative ones. InfoStat software was used and Chi-square and Student t tests were applied when appropriate.Results: 99,15% consumed a PS, being coffee predominant in 93,05%, mate 91,02%, tea 74,75%, chocolate 70%, soft drinks 58,64%, energy drinks 37,97%, tobacco 22,71%, Cafiaspirina® 13%, Arriba!quenotebochen® 9%, coca leaves 8%. 8,3% referred modafinil and methylphenidate consumption and 45% of them perceived an improvement of their academic performance after this. Consuming these drugs was associated to masculine sex (p=0,0275), older age, (p˂0,0001), not professing any religion (p=0,0004), higher courses (p˂0,0001), more academic difficulty (p˂0,0001), delay in the degree (p=0,0009), less than 4 hours of sleep before and exam (p=0,0002), psychological or psychiatric diagnosis (p=0,0017), anxiety disorder (p=0,0068), depressive disorder (p=0,0275) and higher consumption level of caffeine (p˂0,0268). No association was found with working, practicing sports or living with their families.Conclusion: PS consumption to improve academic performance is a usual practice among the students who integrated the sample.