ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Despite growing popularity of ketamine misuse in Asia, there is a lack of a validated instrument to measure the severity of ketamine dependence. Psychometric properties of Chinese Severity of Dependence Scale for ketamine (C-SDS-K) were examined in a sample of treatment-seeking ketamine users in Hong Kong. METHODS: A total of 80 treatment-seeking ketamine users were recruited from 3 treatment centres. The C-SDS-K was administered to assess their severity of dependence on ketamine in the previous month. The diagnosis of their ketamine misuse as per the DSM-IV criteria, and the count of dependence criteria fulfilled in the previous month were determined by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I). RESULTS: The C-SDS-K showed high internal consistency (α = 0.74) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.95). Total score of C-SDS-K correlated positively with frequency (rs = 0.73, p < 0.001) and dose (rs = 0.89, p < 0.001) of ketamine use per week in the previous month, duration of regular ketamine use (rs = 0.28, p = 0.01), and the count of DSM-IV ketamine dependence criteria met in the previous month (rs = 0.84, p < 0.001). All items loaded strongly on a single factor (factor loading ≥ 0.60) in principal component analysis. CONCLUSION: The findings support SDS as a reliable and valid tool for measuring the severity of dependence in the treatment-seeking population of Chinese ketamine users.
Subject(s)
Analgesics , Ketamine , Patient Acceptance of Health Care , Severity of Illness Index , Substance-Related Disorders/diagnosis , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Hong Kong/epidemiology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Reproducibility of Results , Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Synthetic cannabinoids are hybrid herbal/chemical products which mimic the effects of cannabis. They are usually marketed as incense or 'herbal smoking blend', and best known by the brand names 'K2' and 'Spice'. Their popularity among recreational drug abusers has grown rapidly due to their easy availability, relatively low cost, non-detection by conventional drug tests, and ease of concealing their use from family and authorities. They took Europe and later North America by storm in the late 2000s, yet limited medical literature exists detailing their adverse effects. They began to emerge in the Hong Kong drug scene in 2009. We report on a man who developed acute mental disturbance after 4 weeks of daily K2 abuse. This is the first case report of mental disorder caused by synthetic cannabinoid abuse in a Chinese.
