Prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms during early methamphetamine withdrawal in Han Chinese population

Depression, a common comorbidity of drug abuse, is often a core component of withdrawal symptoms; however, risk factors associated with depressive symptoms during the acute stage of withdrawal among methamphetamine (METH) users are not well understood. This study investigated the correlations between several potential risk factors and depressive symptoms during acute METH withdrawal in a Han Chinese population.

A total of 243 eligible Chinese METH users were recruited from Wenzhou Sanyang Detoxification Institute in Zhejiang province from November 2012 to June 2013. A set of self-administrative questionnaires were used to collect information about socio-demographics, drug use history and depression. Thirteen-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13) was used to measure depressive symptoms.

METH users had a mean BDI-13 score of 12.39; 157 subjects (64.6%) reported depressive symptoms during METH withdrawal, of which 74 subjects (30.5%) reported moderate depressive symptoms and 83 subjects (34.1%) reported severe depressive symptoms. Higher frequency of drug use and history of METH-use relapse were associated with depressive symptoms (adjusted OR=2.8; 95% CI=1.56-5.04) and (adjusted OR=3.4; 95% CI=1.36-8.49), respectively. Moderate alcohol drinking was associated with less risk for depressive symptoms during acute withdrawal (adjusted OR=0.54; 95% CI=0.31-0.93).

Depressive symptoms are common during early METH withdrawal. In addition, several risk factors including frequency of METH use and history of relapse were positively associated with depressive symptoms during that period while moderate alcohol drinking was negatively associated with depressive symptoms.