Mini Mental State Examination (Mmse) In Substance Users And Non Substance Users: A Comparison Study

Background: Due to its progressive nature, substance use impacts the entire aspects of life, and can result in adverse repercussions on mental status. Accordingly, the current article seeks to compare the mental status of substance abusers with that of normal individuals.Methods: The study is a cross-sectional research. The study population is comprised of 50 methamphetamine users, 52 opium users, and 100 normal individuals referred to Farabi Psychiatric Hospital in Kermanshah, 2018, in Iran. The subjects were selected by convenience sampling method and matched in terms of demographic characteristics. Data collection was performed using Mental State Examination (MMSE) and demographic questionnaire.Results: The results showed that mean scores of orientation, attention, and mental status were significantly different between the normal and substance abusers (P< .05). However, the above-mentioned difference was not significant between methamphetamine abusers and opioid abusers (P> .05). In addition, the mean score of the language tests was statistically significant only among the normal and methamphetamine abusers (P< .05). Conclusions: Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the opium and methamphetamine users showed poorer performance in MMSE than the normal group.