[Cognitive impairment after accidental high-dose corticosteroid therapy]

Nervenarzt. 2004 Sep;75(9):904-7. doi: 10.1007/s00115-003-1638-7.
[Article in German]

Abstract

Synthetic glucocorticosteroids can induce various severe mental disorders. Persisting cognitive disorder represents a rare complication of corticoid therapy involving memory, concentration, attention, or occupational performance. We observed the effects of a 20-day self-induced high-dose corticosteroid treatment on the cognitive functions in a 54-year-old patient. Having excluded dementia due to other organic causes, we examined the patient neuropsychologically immediately at the end of the steroid therapy and at follow-up (1, 2, 4, and 6 months). The initial tests showed seriously impaired functioning of concentration, attention, learning, and memory as well as of common ability to solve problems. The follow-up tests up to 6 months revealed an improvement of concentration and attention, but there were still serious deficits of the declarative memory with a high confabulating tendency. Our results confirm those of human experimental studies that exogenous steroids can cause serious persisting specific cognitive disorders especially of the declarative, hippocampus-dependent memory.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Bipolar Disorder / chemically induced
  • Bipolar Disorder / diagnosis
  • Cognition Disorders / chemically induced*
  • Cognition Disorders / diagnosis
  • Dexamethasone / administration & dosage
  • Dexamethasone / toxicity*
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Drug Overdose / psychology
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Hearing Loss, Sudden / drug therapy
  • Humans
  • Injections, Intravenous
  • Medication Errors*
  • Memory Disorders / chemically induced*
  • Memory Disorders / diagnosis
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests / statistics & numerical data*
  • Psychometrics
  • Psychoses, Substance-Induced / diagnosis
  • Self Administration
  • Self Medication

Substances

  • Dexamethasone