Psychopharmacology
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Acute effects of opioids on memory functions of healthy men and women.
Although several psychotropic drugs can acutely induce an anterograde impairment of memory which impedes new learning, they do not produce retrograde impairments, reducing memory for information learned prior to the drug being administered. However, both anterograde and retrograde memory impairments have been reported following an acute dose of morphine in palliative care patients (Kamboj et al., Pain 117:388-395, 2005). ⋯ We conclude that these standard doses of opioids have only marginal effects on memory. If these findings can be extrapolated to patients with pain, then clinicians can feel confident in prescribing them on an outpatient basis without impacting on patients' daily functioning.