Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

Background: Drug abuse create for individuals according to the type substance undesirable  effects. The aim of current study was to compare the executive functions among heroin dependence and normal Individuals.

Methods: The method of current research was causative-comparative that done on two groups of heroin dependence and  normal Individuals. Consumer substance group include 30 patients of  heroin dependence that were selected among those referred to addiction treatment centers of Gonabad city according to available sampling. The comparison group consisted of 30 normal individuals  that were matched in terms of age, gender and education groups with group of heroin dependence. To collect data was used Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Data analyzed with SPSS-16 software and Multivariate Analysis.

Results:The results of multivariate analyze showed a significant difference between heroin dependence and normal individuals in executive function. Group of Heroin dependence were lower performance on the Wisconsin card sorting test compared with the normal group.

Conclusion: Considering the results, it can be inferred that heroin dependence has damaging effects on the brain executive functions.