Substance use outcomes of girls with ADHD in a 10-year follow-up of a prospective longitudinal study

Abstract

Methods: Healthy cocaine smokers (≥2×/week; use for ≥20 years), aged 50–60, completed a three-day inpatient stay to ensure abstinence before undergoing an fMRI scan including social reward and threat tasks, and a behavioral facial affect recognition task. Participants and a friend/relative provided an assessment of the participant’s daily social function. Demographically matched controls also completed these assessments. Data were compared with t-tests. Results:Data collection is ongoing. To date, 21 cocaine smokers (17M; 4F; all AA) and 13 controls (10M; 3F; all AA) have participated. Initial analyses indicate that cocaine smokers less accurately identified facial sadness than did controls (p=0.04), with no difference in other emotions. Cocaine users also experienced more daily social problems, as indicated by both self (p=0.001) and peer (p=0.02) report. fMRI data are not yet available. Conclusions: Results to date suggest that aging cocaine users have lower social cognition andmore problems in daily social function than non-users. Deficits in social processingmay contribute to functional difficulties, problems accessing relationships as alternative rewards, and reduced success in psychotherapy. Further characterization of social processing difficulties in cocaine users may lead to development of more targeted interventions. Financial support: Supported byNIDA (DA030540;DA034877).