Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

Background: Drug addiction is one of the main concerns of mental and social damages in current  century with unpleasant consequences for affected person. The present study aims to compare the attention functions in heroin abusers compared with normal controls.

Methods: The method of current research was causative-comparative with two groups of heroin abusers and normal individuals. Therefore, 30 men consumers of heroin and 30 normal individuals were selected using convenience sampling. The substance users were selected from addiction treatment center in Gonabab city. The normal group included 30 normal individuals matched in terms of age, sex and education with the first group. The data were collected using Stroop test, Spatial Cueing and Change Detection. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis through SPSS v.19 software.

 Results: The outcomes of multivariate analysis showed significant difference between attention functions for group of heroin abusers with normal individuals (p<0/0001).

Conclusions: Heroin abuse has undesired adverse effects on attention function in heroin abusers. Attention dysfunction affects the everyday life of the individual and his activities. It is recommended that desirable treatment strategy is designed for heroin abusers in order to remove and reduce the deficit of attention.