Pharmacological Neuroenhancement in the Field of Economics-Poll Results from an Online Survey.

Pavel Dietz,Andreas G Franke,Michael Soyka

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00520

Abstract

Introduction: The use of over-the-counter, prescription, and illicit drugs to increase attention, concentration, or memory—often called (pharmacological) neuroenhancement—shows a broad range of prevalence rates among students. However, very little data is available on neuroenhancement among employed persons. The aim of this study was to provide first data on substance use for neuroenhancement among readers of the German “Handelsblatt” coming from the field of economics.Methods: Readers of the online edition of the Handelsblatt, a leading print and online medium for the field of economics, were invited to participate in a survey via a link on the journal homepage to complete a web-based questionnaire. Within the questionnaire, participants were asked for their gender, current age, current professional status, hours of work per week, prevalence rates of substance use for the purpose of neuroenhancement as well as for reasons of its use. Binary regression analyses with stepwise forward selection were used to predict the dependent variables “use of illicit and prescription drugs for neuroenhancement” (yes/no), “use of over-the-counter drugs for neuroenhancement” (yes/no), and “use of any drug for neuroenhancement” (yes/no).Results: A total of 1021 participants completed the anonymous survey. Lifetime prevalence for the use of any drug for neuroenhancement was 88.0% and for the use of illicit and prescription drugs for neuroenhancement 19.0%. Reasons and situations that predicted neuroenhancement with illicit and prescription drugs were “curiosity,” “to enhance mood,” ”for a confident appearance,” “stress/pressure to perform,” and “deadline pressure.”Discussion: The study shows that neuroenhancement with drugs is a widespread and frequent phenomenon among people belonging to the professional field of economics. Given in the literature that the use of drugs, especially prescription, and illicit drugs, may be associated with side effects, the high epidemic of drug use for neuroenhancement also shown in the present paper underlines the new public health concern of neuroenhancement.

Highlights

The use of over-the-counter, prescription, and illicit drugs to increase attention, concentration, or memory—often called neuroenhancement—shows a broad range of prevalence rates among students
Participants were asked to indicate any substances they had already used for neuroenhancement by completing a table that listed OTC drugs and prescription and illicit drugs as well as drinks known to be frequently used for neuroenhancement by students (Mehlman, 2004; De Jongh et al, 2008; Franke et al, 2011b, 2014; Dietz et al, 2013b; Schelle et al, 2015) and surgeons (Franke et al, 2013, 2015a): coffee, energy/caffeinated drinks, caffeine tablets, cola drinks, Ginkgo biloba, Ritalin R, Adderall R, modafinil, ecstasy, ephedrine, cocaine, crystal meth, illicit amphetamines, and antidepressants
This study used an anonymous web-based questionnaire to investigate for the first time the use of drugs for neuroenhancement among the “Handelsblatt” readership working or at least studying in the field of economics

Summary

Introduction

The use of over-the-counter, prescription, and illicit drugs to increase attention, concentration, or memory—often called (pharmacological) neuroenhancement—shows a broad range of prevalence rates among students. The aim of this study was to provide first data on substance use for neuroenhancement among readers of the German “Handelsblatt” coming from the field of economics. A 2008 publication of survey results about the use of cognition-enhancing drugs among the readers of Nature introduced a phenomenon called neuroenhancement to the scientific world (Maher, 2008). Pharmacological neuroenhancement is frequently defined as the use of any drug to enhance vigilance, attention, concentration, memory, mood, self-confidence, or self-expression without medical need (Greely et al, 2008; Franke et al, 2014). The Nature poll assessed the use of Ritalin R (methylphenidate, MPH), Provigil R (modafinil), and beta blockers for neuroenhancement and found that one fifth of the 1400 participants had used at least one of these drugs to improve their focus, concentration or memory without medical need. The online poll was criticized by some authors in the Nature blog e.g., regarding the methodology (e.g., participation bias)

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