Prevalence, demographics, and clinical correlates of antisocial personality disorder in Chinese methamphetamine patients

Abstract

Background and objectives: Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is very common among methamphetamine (MA) patients, but very few studies have been conducted in China. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and clinical correlates of ASPD among Chinese MA patients.

Methods: We recruited 627 MA patients and collected demographic and MA use data through one-on-one semi-structured interviews. ASPD was measured by the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.). The Desires for Drug Questionnaire (DDQ) and visual analog scale (VAS) were used to assess drug cravings.

Results: The prevalence rate of ASPD among MA patients was 27.59% (173/627). Patients with ASPD had greater age at the first onset, duration of MA use, length of abstinence, VAS, DDQ desire and intention, negative reinforcement, and total DDQ scores than patients without ASPD. Stepwise binary logistic regression analysis revealed that age, age at the first onset, length of abstinence, and DDQ-negative reinforcement were independently associated with ASPD in MA patients.

Discussion and conclusions: Our findings suggest that the prevalence of ASPD is high among Chinese MA patients. Furthermore, some demographic and clinical variables are associated with ASPD in MA patients.

Scientific significance: We focused our study on the clinical profile of ASPD and the reasons for its high prevalence in Chinese methamphetamine patients. We identified several demographic and clinical variables as correlates of the occurrence of ASPD in methamphetamine patients, which provides evidence for ASPD comorbidity in methamphetamine patients.