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The association between interleukin‐8 levels and the development of withdrawal symptoms during methamphetamine abstinence
Author(s) -
Feng Liang,
He Weilei,
Lin Shasha,
Ruan Yiting,
Yuan Chengxiang,
Qiu Huihua,
Ren Wenwei,
He Jincai
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/hup.2736
Subject(s) - abstinence , methamphetamine , medicine , meth , confounding , interleukin , gastroenterology , cytokine , psychiatry , chemistry , monomer , organic chemistry , acrylate , polymer
Objective Withdrawal symptoms are common during methamphetamine (METH) abstinence. This study aimed to explore the association between serum interleukins and withdrawal symptoms during METH abstinence. Methods This study recruited 120 METH users, and 94 of them completed the 2‐week follow‐up. Serum interleukin‐1β, 6,8,10 were tested at admission. Withdrawal symptoms were assessed by the Methamphetamine Withdrawal Questionnaire (MAWQ). Results Serum IL‐8 levels were positively correlated with MAWQ scores at the 2‐week endpoint ( r = .257, p = .013). The variation of the MAWQ scores during the 2‐week follow‐up was negatively correlated with serum IL‐8 levels at admission ( r = −.249, p = .026). Serum IL‐8 levels remained associated with the severity of METH withdrawal symptoms ( β = .363, p = .023), after adjusting for potential confounders. Limitations This study did not include normal controls. Most patients were male and cigarette smokers. Patients were only followed up for 2 weeks, and their toxicology data were not collected. Interleukins were only measured at admission, and were tested in serum, not in the cerebrospinal fluid. Conclusions Our study demonstrated that higher serum IL‐8 levels may predict more severe withdrawal symptoms at 2 weeks after METH abstinence.