{"title":"Are Patients with Schizophrenia Reliably Reporting their Cannabis Use? An African Cross-sectional Study.","authors":"Ismail Rammouz, Mohamed Merzouki, Sara Bouri, Aalouane Rachid, Amine Bout, Saïd Boujraf","doi":"10.2174/1871524922666220620150033","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Most studies of the prevalence of cannabis use among patients with schizophrenia used a self-report as declared by the patient himself. We hypothesize that patients with schizophrenia did not tell the truth and might underreport their use for many reasons to be discussed later. Indeed, the under-report of cannabis use among these patients can affect the effectiveness of their treatment.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>To assess the degree of agreement between the prevalence values obtained from patients' reports and the results of the toxicological tests.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A cross-sectional study was carried out on 403 patients with schizophrenia. A sociodemographic, psychiatric history and illicit drug use profile was performed for each patient. We assessed the patients with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Calgary Depression score (CDSS), Barratt Impulsiveness Score (BIS-10) and Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS). The consumption of cannabis used was confirmed with MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI-DSM IV) and using toxicological analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Among the 403 patients who consented to give their urine samples, 49.1% (198/403) tested positive for cannabis, and 41.41% (82/198) underreported their use. The sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire were 0.58 and 0.74. Based on the comparison between sociodemographic and psychiatric history data of patients who self-report and underreport their cannabis use, no significant difference was observed except for the duration of cannabis use and the score on the medication adherence scale. Moreover, it was found that impulsivity, PANSS score, CDSS score, and the type of schizophrenia are not involved in predicting the underreporting of cannabis use.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The rate of patients who under-report cannabis use is important. Therefore, toxicological analysis is becoming relevant for identifying drug use among schizophrenic patients and in the addictive comorbidity research field.</p>","PeriodicalId":9799,"journal":{"name":"Central nervous system agents in medicinal chemistry","volume":"22 3","pages":"188-197"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Central nervous system agents in medicinal chemistry","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2174/1871524922666220620150033","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Psychology","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Most studies of the prevalence of cannabis use among patients with schizophrenia used a self-report as declared by the patient himself. We hypothesize that patients with schizophrenia did not tell the truth and might underreport their use for many reasons to be discussed later. Indeed, the under-report of cannabis use among these patients can affect the effectiveness of their treatment.
Aims: To assess the degree of agreement between the prevalence values obtained from patients' reports and the results of the toxicological tests.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 403 patients with schizophrenia. A sociodemographic, psychiatric history and illicit drug use profile was performed for each patient. We assessed the patients with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Calgary Depression score (CDSS), Barratt Impulsiveness Score (BIS-10) and Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS). The consumption of cannabis used was confirmed with MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI-DSM IV) and using toxicological analysis.
Results: Among the 403 patients who consented to give their urine samples, 49.1% (198/403) tested positive for cannabis, and 41.41% (82/198) underreported their use. The sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire were 0.58 and 0.74. Based on the comparison between sociodemographic and psychiatric history data of patients who self-report and underreport their cannabis use, no significant difference was observed except for the duration of cannabis use and the score on the medication adherence scale. Moreover, it was found that impulsivity, PANSS score, CDSS score, and the type of schizophrenia are not involved in predicting the underreporting of cannabis use.
Conclusion: The rate of patients who under-report cannabis use is important. Therefore, toxicological analysis is becoming relevant for identifying drug use among schizophrenic patients and in the addictive comorbidity research field.
期刊介绍:
Central Nervous System Agents in Medicinal Chemistry aims to cover all the latest and outstanding developments in medicinal chemistry and rational drug design for the discovery of new central nervous system agents. Containing a series of timely in-depth reviews written by leaders in the field covering a range of current topics, Central Nervous System Agents in Medicinal Chemistry is an essential journal for every medicinal chemist who wishes to be kept informed and up-to-date with the latest and most important developments in the field.