Department of Psychiatry, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Jellinek, Arkin, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Eur Addict Res. 2024;30(4):223-232. doi: 10.1159/000539860. Epub 2024 Jul 12.
Over the past decade, frequent use of large quantities of nitrous oxide (N2O) has become more common in the Netherlands. Although N2O poses several negative health consequences for a subgroup of problematic N2O users, there is a lack of knowledge on what characterizes these intensive users. This study therefore aims to provide the demographic and substance use characteristics and experiences during treatment of treatment seeking problematic N2O users and to compare this with a matched group of treatment-seeking problematic cocaine users.
A retrospective chart review was performed of patients who were referred for treatment of problematic N2O use at a large Dutch addiction care facility from January 2020 to September 2022, extracting demographics, pattern of use and follow-up data. Additionally, a subgroup of N2O users was propensity-score matched (1:1) with a subgroup of treatment seeking problematic cocaine users, both groups excluding users with substance use disorders or frequent use of substances other than N2O and cocaine, respectively.
128 patients with a N2O use disorder were included in the total sample and a subgroup of 77 N2O-only users was propensity-score matched on age and sex to 77 cocaine-only users. N2O users were typically young (mean age 26.2 years), male (66.4%), unmarried (82.9%), with a low education level (59.0%) and born in the Netherlands (88.2%), with parents born in Morocco (45.3%). N2O was used intermittently (median 10 days/month, IQR 4.0-17.5 days) and often in very large quantities (median 5 kg [ca. 750 balloons] per average using day, IQR 2-10 kg). Compared to the patients with a cocaine use disorder, matched N2O users were lower educated, more often from Moroccan descent, and less likely to be alcohol or polysubstance users. Despite receiving similar treatments, N2O users were twice as likely to discontinue treatment before completion compared to cocaine users (63 vs. 35%, p = 0.004).
Treatment-seeking problematic N2O users are demographically different from treatment-seeking problematic cocaine users and are much more likely to dropout from psychological treatment. Further research is needed into the needs and other factors of problematic N2O users that relate to poor treatment adherence in problematic N2O users.
在过去的十年中，大量使用一氧化二氮（N2O）在荷兰变得越来越普遍。尽管 N2O 对一小部分有问题的 N2O 用户造成了一些负面的健康后果，但对于这些密集使用者的特征，我们知之甚少。因此，本研究旨在提供寻求治疗的有问题的 N2O 用户的人口统计学和物质使用特征以及治疗期间的经验，并将其与寻求治疗的有问题的可卡因使用者的匹配组进行比较。
对 2020 年 1 月至 2022 年 9 月期间在荷兰一家大型成瘾治疗机构因 N2O 使用问题而接受治疗的患者进行了回顾性图表审查，提取人口统计学、使用模式和随访数据。此外，还对 N2O 使用者进行了倾向评分匹配（1:1），与一组寻求治疗的有问题的可卡因使用者进行了匹配，两组均排除了有物质使用障碍或经常使用 N2O 和可卡因以外物质的使用者。
在总样本中，共有 128 名 N2O 使用障碍患者，其中一个亚组 77 名 N2O 仅使用者根据年龄和性别与 77 名可卡因仅使用者进行了倾向评分匹配。N2O 使用者通常年轻（平均年龄 26.2 岁），男性（66.4%），未婚（82.9%），受教育程度低（59.0%），出生在荷兰（88.2%），父母出生在摩洛哥（45.3%）。N2O 间歇性使用（中位数 10 天/月，IQR 4.0-17.5 天），且经常使用大量 N2O（中位数 5 公斤[约 750 个气球]/平均使用日，IQR 2-10 公斤）。与可卡因使用障碍患者相比，匹配的 N2O 用户受教育程度较低，更常来自摩洛哥裔，且更不可能是酒精或多物质使用者。尽管接受了类似的治疗，但 N2O 使用者在完成治疗前退出治疗的可能性是可卡因使用者的两倍（63%比 35%，p=0.004）。
寻求治疗的有问题的 N2O 用户在人口统计学上与寻求治疗的有问题的可卡因使用者不同，他们更有可能退出心理治疗。需要进一步研究与 N2O 使用者较差的治疗依从性相关的有问题的 N2O 用户的需求和其他因素。
