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©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Treatment outcome, cognitive function, and psychopathology in methamphetamine users compared to other substance users
Nina Behle, Felicia Kamp, Lisa Proebstl, Laura Hager, Marlies Riebschläger, Maik Schacht-Jablonowsky, Willem Hamdorf, Stefanie Neumann, Daniela Krause, Kirsi Manz, Andreas Guenter Franke, Gabriele Koller, Michael Soyka
Nina Behle, Felicia Kamp, Lisa Proebstl, Laura Hager, Daniela Krause, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich 80336, Germany
Marlies Riebschläger, Maik Schacht-Jablonowsky, Willem Hamdorf, Stefanie Neumann, MEDIAN Clinic, Mecklenburg, Vitense 19217, Germany
Kirsi Manz, Institute for Medical Information Processing, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich 81377, Germany
Andreas Guenter Franke, University of Applied Labour Studies of the Federal Employment Agency, Mannheim 68163, Germany
Gabriele Koller, Michael Soyka, Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich 80336, Germany
Author contributions: Koller G and Soyka M were responsible for the study concept and design; Behle N and Kamp F wrote the manuscript; Behle N, Kamp F, Proebstl L, Hager L, Riebschläger M, Schacht-Jablonowsky M, Hamdorf W, and Neumann S performed the research and data collection; Behle N, Kamp F and Manz K performed data analysis; Behle N, Kamp F, and Krause D interpreted the analyses outcomes; Koller G, Soyka M, Franke AG, and Krause D reviewed and edited the manuscript; All authors critically reviewed content and approved final version for publication.
Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Health (partially).
Institutional review board statement: Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by ethic committee of LMU Munich, Project No. 422-16.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Data sharing statement: Data are available from the corresponding author at gabi.koller@med.uni-muenchen.de. Consent for data sharing was not obtained but the presented data are anonymized and risk of identification is low.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Gabriele Koller, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig Maximilians University, Nußbaumstraße 7, Munich 80336, Germany. gabi.koller@med.uni-muenchen.de
Received: December 22, 2021
Peer-review started: December 22, 2021
First decision: March 13, 2022
Revised: March 28, 2022
Accepted: June 16, 2022
Article in press: June 16, 2022
Published online: July 19, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Over the last years the misuse of methamphetamine has risen, leading to an increased need for treatment options for this group of patients. To date, it remains elusive whether treatment programs for methamphetamine users are effective. One question arises whether established treatment methods for individuals using other substances can effectively target individuals with methamphetamine dependence.
Research motivation
The present study aims to investigate the potential differences in cognitive functioning and psychopathology between methamphetamine users and other substance users and possible correlations with treatment outcomes.
Research objectives
In order to provide effective therapy for the subgroup of methamphetamine users, differences to the group of other substance abusers need to be identified.
Research methods
For this observational longitudinal study from a German inpatient addiction treatment center a total of 110 subjects were recruited. Of those, 55 patients had methamphetamine dependence and 55 patients had dependence of other substances (“OS group”). Both groups were examined at beginning (baseline) and end of treatment (after 6 mo) with regard to treatment retention, craving, cognitive functioning, psychosocial resources, personality traits, depression, and other psychiatric symptoms. Instruments used were Raven’s IQ test, Mannheimer craving scale, Cognitrone cognitive test battery, NEO personality factors inventory, Hamilton depression scale, Becks depression inventory and symptom checklist. The statistical methods used were χ²-tests, t-tests, and multiple mixed ANOVAs.
Research results
Over the period of 6 mo, a total drop-out rate of 40% (methamphetamine-group: 36.4%; OS-group: 43.6%) was observed without significant differences between groups. At baseline, methamphetamine-group subjects significantly differed from OS-group individuals in terms of a lower intelligence quotient, fewer years of education, slower working speed and lower working accuracy as well as less cannabinoid and cocaine use. Methamphetamine-group subjects further showed a significantly lower score of conscientiousness, depressive, and psychiatric symptoms than subjects from the OS-group. In both groups a reduction of craving and depressive symptoms and an improvement of working speed and working accuracy were noted after treatment.
Research conclusions
The existing treatment options for substance abuse seem to be an effective approach in treating methamphetamine dependence.
Research perspectives
Future studies should investigate specific programs that aim to improve cognitive function and psychopathology in methamphetamine dependent patients.
