TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2023//
TI  - Daily naltrexone use does not adversely affect physical, cognitive or marksmanship performance in U.S. Army soldiers
JO  - Military medicine
A1  - Carreno-Davidson, Jamie T.
A1  - Castellani, Colleen M.
A1  - Carreno, Joseph J.
A1  - DeLuca, Jesse P.
A1  - Selig, Daniel J.
A1  - Vuong, Chau V.
A1  - Pasiakos, Stefan M.
A1  - Ritland, Bradley M.
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - INTRODUCTION: Considering the potential of weaponized opioids, evaluating how prophylactic countermeasures affect military-relevant performance is necessary. Naltrexone is a commercially available Food and Drug Administration-approved medication that blocks the effects of opioids with minimal side effects. However, the effects of naltrexone on the health and performance of non-substance abusing military personnel are not well described in the existing literature. <br><br>METHODS: Active duty U.S. Army Soldiers (n = 16, mean ± SD, age: 23.1 ± 5.3 y) completed a series of physical, cognitive, and marksmanship tasks during a 4-day pretrial, a 7-day active trial, and a 4-day post-trial phase. During the active trial, participants were administered 50 mg of oral naltrexone daily. Physiological and biological processes were monitored with a daily review of systems, sleep monitoring, biochemistry, and hematology blood panels. <br><br>RESULTS: Naltrexone did not negatively affect physical performance, cognitive functioning, marksmanship, or sleep duration (P > 0.05). Improvements were observed during the active trial compared to the pretrial phase in cognitive tasks measuring logical relations (P = 0.05), matching to sample (P = 0.04), math speed (P < 0.01), math percent correct (P = 0.04), and spatial processing (P < 0.01). <br><br>RESULTS from biochemistry and hematology blood panels remained within clinically normative ranges throughout all phases of the study. No participants were medically withdrawn; however, one participant voluntarily withdrew due to nausea and reduced appetite. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Temporary (7-day) daily use of naltrexone was safe and did not negatively affect physical performance, cognitive functioning, marksmanship ability, or sleep in a healthy cohort of U.S. Army Soldiers.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0026-4075
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usad325
ID  - ref1
ER  -