Non-medical Use of Prescription Psychostimulants and Academic Performance in Medical Students

Objective: It is well-known that healthy medical students use psychostimulants to improve their cognitive functions and reduce their need for sleep. The main motivation behind this cognitive enhancement is to increase academic performance. However, the literature is not clear enough to support this situation. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted through an online questionnaire, with 585 students participating. The grade point average number was used to assess the student' academic performance. Additionally, a self -evaluation scale was employed to assess levels of pharmaceutical knowledge, study performance, academic success, academic anxiety, and study habits. Results: Out of 585 healthy students surveyed, 40 (7.3%) stated that using psychostimulants to enhance their academic performance. However, there was no significant difference in grade point average scores and perceived academic success levels between users and non -users. Nevertheless, most of the users reported benefiting from taking psychostimulant drugs. Risk factors for non -medical use of prescription psychostimulants included high levels of pharmacology knowledge, smoking, and poor academic performance. Conclusion: Although the non -medical use of prescription psychostimulants did not appear to significantly impact academic performance, most students reported positive subjective experiences, which could have a motivational effect. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct more indepth investigations into the benefits and side effects of psychostimulants in healthy young individuals and provide them with up-to-date information on this issue