AUTHOR=Abbass Marwah , Al-Hemiary Nesif , Sahib Hayder B. 

TITLE=The impact of methamphetamine on psychosocial variables in patients from Iraq

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1376636

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1376636

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>The current work reviews the psychosocial factors associated with different urinary methamphetamine concentration levels.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>From April to November 2023, 243 participants from Baghdad’s Al-Ataa Hospital were the subjects of a cross-sectional descriptive analysis study. We included 73 patients in this study.</p></sec><sec><title>Result</title><p>The urinary methamphetamine concentration levels were from 3 to 92,274 ng/ml, with a mean ± SD of 10,873.6 ± 18,641. Patients diagnosed with major depression disorder exhibited higher scores on GHQ-30, UCLA, MOAS, and BDI-II with a significant <italic>P</italic>-value of 0.0001, 0.001, 0.0001, and 0.0001, consequently with an effect size of 0.015, 0.001, 1.05, and 3.24, respectively.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>The multi-screening test can produce a false positive. It frequently interferes with other drugs, especially antidepressants. This will result in patients being stigmatized and accused. On the other hand, those who accidentally come into contact with crystal smoke will experience the same withdrawal symptoms as the addicted patients. Their urinary methamphetamine level (titer) could have negative results. Urinary methamphetamine levels should be zero in healthy patients. In this situation, screening tests, expert opinion, and urine methamphetamine testing are strongly recommended.</p></sec>