Neuropsychological consequences of volatile substance abuse: a review

1. The evidence from studies of the neuropsychological consequences of chronic volatile substance abuse is reviewed. 2. Studies of occupational exposure to solvent vapour are of limited relevance when considering the effects of volatile substance abuse because occupational exposure is normally to small quantities of many different compounds over prolonged periods of time. 3. Many studies of chronic volatile substance abusers suffer from serious shortcomings such as the use of small sample sizes, inadequate controls, failure to exclude the possibility of acute toxic effects and a disregard of other factors which could account for the findings. 4. There is reasonably good evidence that neuropsychological impairment is often present amongst volatile substance abusers with definite neurological abnormalities. 5. Although most studies have found that volatile substance abusers without reported neurological abnormalities obtain lower psychometric test scores than non-abusers, it remains uncertain whether these deficits are best explained in terms of a causal effect of volatile substance abuse, rather than a reflection of other factors associated with volatile substance abuse, such as background, social disadvantages or history of delinquency.