A Cross-sectional Cohort Study to Assess Long-term Neurocognitive and Psychiatric Symptoms of Mefloquine Use in Veterans

ABSTRACT Introduction To evaluate the associations between neurocognitive and psychiatric health outcomes with mefloquine or any antimalarial exposure. Materials and Methods Medical records were systematically reviewed to identify veterans that indicated antimalarial medication use. Linear regression was performed to examine associations between mefloquine/antimalarial exposure and health outcomes. The mefloquine-exposed group was further compared with normative populations for the same health outcomes. Results In the adjusted models, no significant differences were noted between the two exposure groups and the unexposed group for any of the health measures (P-value > 0.05). When compared to normative population samples, the mefloquine-exposed group had poorer health and greater neurobehavioral symptom severity or cognitive complaints. Conclusion This study suggests that mefloquine use by veterans referred for intensive evaluation of their military deployment exposures and health was not associated with increased, long-term, neurocognitive/psychiatric symptoms compared to unexposed veterans.