Department of Drug Monitoring, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Psychiatry, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2019 Sep;236(9):2677-2685. doi: 10.1007/s00213-019-05238-8. Epub 2019 Apr 9.
Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are a class of new psychoactive substances that have been rapidly evolving around the world throughout recent years. Many different synthetic cannabinoid analogues are on the consumer market and sold under misleading names, like "spice" or "incense." A limited number of studies have reported serious health effects associated with SC use. In this study, we compared clinical and subclinical psychopathological symptoms associated with SC use and natural cannabis (NC) use.
A convenience sample of 367 NC and SC users was recruited online, including four validated psychometric questionnaires: The Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Altman Mania Scale (Altman), and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). The two groups were compared with analysis of variance (ANOVA) and covariance (ANCOVA), chi tests, and logistic regression when appropriate.
The SC user group did not differ in age from the NC user group (27.7 years), but contained less females (21% and 30%, respectively). SC users scored higher than NC users on all used psychometric measures, indicating a higher likelihood of drug abuse, sleep problems, (hypo)manic symptoms, and the nine dimensions comprising the BSI, somatization, obsessive-compulsive behavior, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. Odds ratios (95% CI) for the SC user group vs NC user group were, respectively, drug dependence 3.56 (1.77-7.16), (severe) insomnia 5.01 (2.10-11.92), (hypo-)mania 5.18 (2.04-13.14), and BSI psychopathology 5.21 (2.96-9.17).
This study shows that SC use is associated with increased mental health symptomatology compared to NC use.
合成大麻素（SCs）是近年来在全球范围内迅速发展的一类新型精神活性物质。许多不同的合成大麻素类似物在消费者市场上以误导性的名称出售，如“香料”或“香薰”。有限的研究报告了与 SC 使用相关的严重健康影响。在这项研究中，我们比较了与 SC 使用和天然大麻（NC）使用相关的临床和亚临床心理病理症状。
我们在线招募了 367 名 NC 和 SC 用户的便利样本，包括四个经过验证的心理计量学问卷：药物使用障碍识别测试（DUDIT）、失眠严重程度指数（ISI）、阿尔特曼躁狂量表（Altman）和简明症状量表（BSI）。当适当的时候，我们使用方差分析（ANOVA）和协方差分析（ANCOVA）、卡方检验和逻辑回归对两组进行比较。
SC 用户组在年龄上与 NC 用户组没有差异（27.7 岁），但女性比例较低（分别为 21%和 30%）。SC 用户在所有使用的心理计量学测量上的得分均高于 NC 用户，这表明他们更有可能滥用药物、出现睡眠问题、（轻躁狂）症状和 BSI 的九个维度，包括躯体化、强迫行为、人际敏感、抑郁、焦虑、敌意、恐怖症、偏执观念和精神病。SC 用户组与 NC 用户组相比，药物依赖的比值比（95%置信区间）分别为 3.56（1.77-7.16）、（严重）失眠 5.01（2.10-11.92）、（轻躁狂） 5.18（2.04-13.14）和 BSI 精神病理学 5.21（2.96-9.17）。
与 NC 使用相比，SC 使用与增加的心理健康症状相关。
