Physician attitudes towards pharmacological cognitive enhancement: safety concerns are paramount.

ABSTRACT: The ethical dimensions of pharmacological cognitive enhancement have been widely discussed in academic circles and the popular media, but missing from the conversation have been the perspectives of physicians - key decision makers in the adoption of new technologies into medical practice. We queried primary care physicians in major urban centers in Canada and the United States with the aim of understanding their attitudes towards cognitive enhancement. Our primary hypothesis was that physicians would be more comfortable prescribing cognitive enhancers to older patients than to young adults. Physicians were presented with a hypothetical pharmaceutical cognitive enhancer that had been approved by the regulatory authorities for use in healthy adults, and was characterized as being safe, effec

SUBMITTER: Banjo OC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3001858 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature