Assessment of sleep disturbance and cannabis withdrawal symptoms across sustained abstinence in adolescent and young adult cannabis users
Mentor 1
Krista M. Lisdahl
Mentor 2
Ryan M. Sullivan
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
5-4-2019 1:30 PM
End Date
5-4-2019 3:30 PM
Description
Background and Rationale. It has been established that cannabis withdrawal symptoms include, but are not limited to, sleep difficulty, restlessness, and irritability, with previous literature reporting some improvements seen after abstinence. However, the knowledge surrounding the temporal presentation of these withdrawal symptoms in adolescent and young adult cannabis users is less known. We aimed to examine the change in reporting of these symptoms across sustained abstinence; hypothesizing that symptoms of withdrawal will increase at acute withdrawal but decrease as cannabis abstinence is sustained. Methods. 80 adolescents and young adults (age, M = 21.16; cannabis users, n = 39) completed three weeks of monitored substance use abstinence, Cannabis Withdrawal Symptom Checklist (CWSC), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). General linear regressions were run examining CWSC across time points. An independent t-test examined PSQI scores between cannabis users and controls. Results. Analyses indicated there was a quadratic relationship between sleep disturbance across time points, such that cannabis users first increased and then decreased scores across abstinence. Cannabis users were no different from controls on sleep disturbance after three weeks of abstinence. However, the model was nonsignificant when looking at total withdrawal scores in cannabis users across time points. Conclusions. Findings indicate that at acute withdrawal, cannabis users report more instances of sleep disturbances; however, as subjects continue to abstain from cannabis, their reported sleep disturbances match that of controls after just three weeks. Implications surrounding recovery of sleep quality while abstaining from cannabis and future directions are discussed.
Assessment of sleep disturbance and cannabis withdrawal symptoms across sustained abstinence in adolescent and young adult cannabis users
Union Wisconsin Room
Background and Rationale. It has been established that cannabis withdrawal symptoms include, but are not limited to, sleep difficulty, restlessness, and irritability, with previous literature reporting some improvements seen after abstinence. However, the knowledge surrounding the temporal presentation of these withdrawal symptoms in adolescent and young adult cannabis users is less known. We aimed to examine the change in reporting of these symptoms across sustained abstinence; hypothesizing that symptoms of withdrawal will increase at acute withdrawal but decrease as cannabis abstinence is sustained. Methods. 80 adolescents and young adults (age, M = 21.16; cannabis users, n = 39) completed three weeks of monitored substance use abstinence, Cannabis Withdrawal Symptom Checklist (CWSC), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). General linear regressions were run examining CWSC across time points. An independent t-test examined PSQI scores between cannabis users and controls. Results. Analyses indicated there was a quadratic relationship between sleep disturbance across time points, such that cannabis users first increased and then decreased scores across abstinence. Cannabis users were no different from controls on sleep disturbance after three weeks of abstinence. However, the model was nonsignificant when looking at total withdrawal scores in cannabis users across time points. Conclusions. Findings indicate that at acute withdrawal, cannabis users report more instances of sleep disturbances; however, as subjects continue to abstain from cannabis, their reported sleep disturbances match that of controls after just three weeks. Implications surrounding recovery of sleep quality while abstaining from cannabis and future directions are discussed.
