Prednisone May Cause Memory Impairment

Glucocorticoids are known to cause hippocampal damage in animals resulting in memory function disturbance. This study illustrates that the frequently used drug prednisone can cause memory impairment in people.

Researchers administered extensive neuropsychological tests to 25 patients with systemic disorders and no CNS involvement who had taken prednisone (5 mg to 40 mg daily) for at least one year and 25 matched controls with similar diagnoses. They also prospectively assessed memory in 7 patients during 12 weeks of prednisone therapy (5 mg to 80 mg) and 7 matched controls.

In both studies, prednisone-treated patients performed significantly worse than controls on tests of hippocampal-dependent explicit memory (such as recall of specific info…