Introduction: Cocaine use and mood disorders are two frequent psychiatric comorbidities. There are few prevalence studies and cognitive functions assessment in patients with mood disorders, particularly bipolar disorder (BD) in crack users.
Methods: Fifty-one outpatient crack users under treatment in Cruz Vermelha, Porto Alegre, Brazil. All patients were assessed by SCID-I. A neuropsychological battery using some sub-tests of WAIS and Wisconsin was also administered.
Results: Abstinence for at least 6 months were seen in 15.70% of the patients. Forty-six of the 51 patients were male. The mean age of the sample was 30.39 ± 8.49. The prevalence of mood disorders was 43.1% (22 subjects). Of those, 7 were patients with BD, and 15 patients had the diagnosis of major depression or substance-induced depression. There was no difference in gender, age and years of schooling in those with and without mood disorders. In the subjects with mood disorders, the estimated IQ was rated as lower average 80.91 ± 11.55, and 81.10 ± 11.10 in those with no mood disorders. There were also no differences in the digit spam subtest, that measures attention and immediate memory and in the Wisconsin executive functions results.
Conclusions: in this pilot study, we found a high prevalence of mood disorders in crack users in an outpatient setting. We found no difference in cognitive assessment and neuropsychological functions between those with and without mood disorders.