Skip to main content
Log in

Corticosteroids and Cognition: A Meta-Analysis

  • Review
  • Published:
Neuropsychology Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A thorough understanding of the cognitive effects of corticosteroids is essential given their frequency of use. This meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of corticosteroids on the various domains of cognitive functioning, grouped by duration of use. An electronic search of PsycInfo, Medline and Google Scholar was conducted for all journal articles published between January 1990 and May 2018. Twenty six studies were included enabling calculation of standardised mean difference (SMD) using a random effects model for the cognitive domains of divided attention, executive function, expressive language, immediate memory, processing speed, recent memory, sustained attention, very long term memory and working memory. Results revealed that corticosteroids had a modest, negative effect on executive function for acute users, recent memory for short term and chronic users, and very long term memory for acute users. Corticosteroids had a small, significant, positive effect on expressive language for short term users.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simon F. Crowe.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

None.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Prado, C.E., Crowe, S.F. Corticosteroids and Cognition: A Meta-Analysis. Neuropsychol Rev 29, 288–312 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-019-09405-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-019-09405-8

Keywords

Navigation