TY - JOUR
T1 - Sex differences in cannabis withdrawal symptoms among treatment-seeking cannabis users
AU - Herrmann, Evan S.
AU - Weerts, Elise M.
AU - Vandrey, Ryan
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by Grant U01 DA031784 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Dr. Herrmann was supported by Grant T32 DA07209 from NIDA. Funding sources had no other role other than financial support. Authors Evan S. Herrmann and Ryan Vandrey conducted data analyses. Evan S. Herrmann, Elise M. Weerts, and Ryan Vandrey wrote the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript. We would like to acknowledge Eva Lenoir, Ivory Zvorski, Sharon Henderson, and Jacob Webbert for their assistance with data collection.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - Over 300,000 individuals enter treatment for cannabis-use disorders (CUDs) in the United States annually. Cannabis withdrawal is associated with poor CUD-treatment outcomes, but no prior studies have examined sex differences in withdrawal among treatment-seeking cannabis users. Treatmentseeking cannabis users (45 women and 91 men) completed a Marijuana Withdrawal Checklist (Budney, Novy, & Hughes, 1999, Budney, Moore, Vandrey, & Hughes, 2003) at treatment intake to retrospectively characterize withdrawal symptoms experienced during their most recent quit attempt. Scores from the 14-item Composite Withdrawal Discomfort Scale (WDS), a subset of the Marijuana Withdrawal Checklist that corresponds to valid cannabis withdrawal symptoms described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; APA, 2013) were calculated. Demographic and substance-use characteristics, overall WDS scores, and scores on individual WDS symptoms were compared between women and men. Women had higher overall WDS scores than men, and women had higher scores than men on 6 individual symptoms in 2 domains, mood symptoms (i.e., irritability, restlessness, increased anger, violent outbursts), and gastrointestinal symptoms (i.e., nausea, stomach pain). Follow-up analyses isolating the incidence and severity of WDS symptoms demonstrated that women generally reported a higher number of individual withdrawal symptoms than men, and that they reported experiencing some symptoms as more severe. This is the first report to demonstrate that women seeking treatment for CUDs may experience more withdrawal then men during quit attempts. Prospective studies of sex differences in cannabis withdrawal are warranted.
AB - Over 300,000 individuals enter treatment for cannabis-use disorders (CUDs) in the United States annually. Cannabis withdrawal is associated with poor CUD-treatment outcomes, but no prior studies have examined sex differences in withdrawal among treatment-seeking cannabis users. Treatmentseeking cannabis users (45 women and 91 men) completed a Marijuana Withdrawal Checklist (Budney, Novy, & Hughes, 1999, Budney, Moore, Vandrey, & Hughes, 2003) at treatment intake to retrospectively characterize withdrawal symptoms experienced during their most recent quit attempt. Scores from the 14-item Composite Withdrawal Discomfort Scale (WDS), a subset of the Marijuana Withdrawal Checklist that corresponds to valid cannabis withdrawal symptoms described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; APA, 2013) were calculated. Demographic and substance-use characteristics, overall WDS scores, and scores on individual WDS symptoms were compared between women and men. Women had higher overall WDS scores than men, and women had higher scores than men on 6 individual symptoms in 2 domains, mood symptoms (i.e., irritability, restlessness, increased anger, violent outbursts), and gastrointestinal symptoms (i.e., nausea, stomach pain). Follow-up analyses isolating the incidence and severity of WDS symptoms demonstrated that women generally reported a higher number of individual withdrawal symptoms than men, and that they reported experiencing some symptoms as more severe. This is the first report to demonstrate that women seeking treatment for CUDs may experience more withdrawal then men during quit attempts. Prospective studies of sex differences in cannabis withdrawal are warranted.
KW - Cannabis
KW - Sex differences
KW - Withdrawal
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U2 - 10.1037/pha0000053
DO - 10.1037/pha0000053
M3 - Article
C2 - 26461168
AN - SCOPUS:84946430291
SN - 1064-1297
VL - 23
SP - 415
EP - 421
JO - Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology
JF - Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology
IS - 6
ER -