Cognitive consequences of opioid use

This chapter intends to review the literature that focused around understanding better the neurocognitive impairments in populations with a history of opioid dependence. Most of the data reviewed are designed as cross-sectional studies and therefore do not allow determination whether neurocognitive impairment observed precede drug use, or, if they occur as a consequence of the effects of continued opioid use. A growing line of evidence from human studies highlight that illicit heroin use, methadone and buprenorphine treatment but not chronic use of other opioids present with variable neurocognitive impairments when compared with healthy non-substance using control groups.