2025_Subjective Craving And Neural Responses To Drug-Related Cues In Individuals With A History Of Drug Addiction: An fMRI Study
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| date | 2025-04-20 17:26 |
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| id | 17221 |
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| person | Nor Alia Aqilah Binti Mohd Nawawi |
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| spelling | 17221 https://intelek.unisza.edu.my/intelek/pages/view.php?ref=17221 https://intelek.unisza.edu.my/intelek/pages/search.php?search=!collection3 General Document Malaysia Library Staff (Top Management) Library Staff (Management) Library Staff (Support) Terengganu Faculty of Health Sciences English application/pdf 1.7 Microsoft® Word 2019 Server storage Scanned document UniSZA Private Access UniSZA Copyright©PWB2025 185 Dissertations, Academic UniSZA 2025_Subjective Craving And Neural Responses To Drug-Related Cues In Individuals With A History Of Drug Addiction: An fMRI Study Nor Alia Aqilah Binti Mohd Nawawi Substance Abuse — Treatment — Malaysia Drug Addiction — Physiological Former Drug Addicts — Mental Health — Malaysia Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Craving (Psychology) Psychological Aspects Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) Relapse (Psychology) Drug Abuse Prevention Magnetic Resonance Imaging Drug addiction poses a significant barrier to Malaysia’s development, with relapse rates among former drug addicts (FDAs) remaining high despite rehabilitation efforts. One prominent factor contributing to relapse is drug craving — an intense desire to abuse drugs often triggered by exposure to drug-related cues, which is a strong predictor of relapse. While previous studies on active drug addicts link cue-induced craving to specific brain region activations, the brain activity patterns of FDAs post-rehabilitation remain understudied. Therefore, this study investigates FDAs’ neural responses to drug-related cues and their relationship with craving, aiming to address this research gap and offer insights for relapse prevention strategies in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study involved 20 male FDAs (mean abstinence period of 6.20 ± 3.79 years) and 23 gender-matched healthy controls (HCs). Purposive sampling was used to recruit FDAs who had been released from community-based rehabilitation centres operated by the National Anti-Drugs Agency (NADA) and HCs from the surrounding community, selecting participants with relevant characteristics. Participants performed a 16-minute functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan where they viewed 192 drug-related and neutral images obtained from the Methamphetamine and Opioid Cue Database (MOCD). These images were presented to the participants in a block-design manner. Participants’ subjective drug craving scores were acquired using a visual analogue scale (VAS) before and immediately after the fMRI scans. The fMRI data were pre-processed and analyzed using fixed effect analysis (FFX) and random effect analysis (RFX) in Statistical Parametric Mapping 12 (SPM12). In both groups, whole-brain analysis showed significant (PFWE < 0.05) activations in brain regions associated with visuospatial attention and visual processing when participants viewed the visual cues. These regions were the inferior occipital gyrus (IOG), middle occipital gyrus (MOG), occipital pole (OCP), calcarine cortex (Calc), inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), occipital fusiform gyrus (OFuG), fusiform gyrus (FuG), and thalamus proper. The findings indicate that the participants were visually engaged in the fMRI experiment. However, a two-sample t-test revealed no significant differences (PFWE > 0.05) in brain activation patterns between FDA and HC groups. A Spearman rank correlation analysis revealed no significant correlation (P > 0.05) between brain activity and craving scores in both groups, suggesting that viewing drug-related cues did not elicit cravings in the participants. This finding implies that FDAs may have recovered from drug addiction and thus no longer feel cravings towards drugs. The novelty of this study is that it provides new evidence that the FDAs’ brains are not significantly activated by drug-related cues, implying that the rehabilitation programmes in Malaysia may be effective in inhibiting brain activity related to craving and promoting recovery from drug addiction. Future studies should explore other relapse factors such as stress or social influences to enhance rehabilitation strategies and support sustained recovery in Malaysia. 2025-04-20 17:26 uuid:F9DFAF5B-5B5D-4F77-82FA-985B25978D3B 17221_d42f5976cfb9e29.pdf Thesis |
| spellingShingle | 2025_Subjective Craving And Neural Responses To Drug-Related Cues In Individuals With A History Of Drug Addiction: An fMRI Study |
| state | Terengganu |
| subject | Dissertations, Academic Substance Abuse — Treatment — Malaysia Drug Addiction — Physiological Former Drug Addicts — Mental Health — Malaysia |
| summary | Drug addiction poses a significant barrier to Malaysia’s development, with relapse rates among former drug addicts (FDAs) remaining high despite rehabilitation efforts. One prominent factor contributing to relapse is drug craving — an intense desire to abuse drugs often triggered by exposure to drug-related cues, which is a strong predictor of relapse. While previous studies on active drug addicts link cue-induced craving to specific brain region activations, the brain activity patterns of FDAs post-rehabilitation remain understudied. Therefore, this study investigates FDAs’ neural responses to drug-related cues and their relationship with craving, aiming to address this research gap and offer insights for relapse prevention strategies in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study involved 20 male FDAs (mean abstinence period of 6.20 ± 3.79 years) and 23 gender-matched healthy controls (HCs). Purposive sampling was used to recruit FDAs who had been released from community-based rehabilitation centres operated by the National Anti-Drugs Agency (NADA) and HCs from the surrounding community, selecting participants with relevant characteristics. Participants performed a 16-minute functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan where they viewed 192 drug-related and neutral images obtained from the Methamphetamine and Opioid Cue Database (MOCD). These images were presented to the participants in a block-design manner. Participants’ subjective drug craving scores were acquired using a visual analogue scale (VAS) before and immediately after the fMRI scans. The fMRI data were pre-processed and analyzed using fixed effect analysis (FFX) and random effect analysis (RFX) in Statistical Parametric Mapping 12 (SPM12). In both groups, whole-brain analysis showed significant (PFWE < 0.05) activations in brain regions associated with visuospatial attention and visual processing when participants viewed the visual cues. These regions were the inferior occipital gyrus (IOG), middle occipital gyrus (MOG), occipital pole (OCP), calcarine cortex (Calc), inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), occipital fusiform gyrus (OFuG), fusiform gyrus (FuG), and thalamus proper. The findings indicate that the participants were visually engaged in the fMRI experiment. However, a two-sample t-test revealed no significant differences (PFWE > 0.05) in brain activation patterns between FDA and HC groups. A Spearman rank correlation analysis revealed no significant correlation (P > 0.05) between brain activity and craving scores in both groups, suggesting that viewing drug-related cues did not elicit cravings in the participants. This finding implies that FDAs may have recovered from drug addiction and thus no longer feel cravings towards drugs. The novelty of this study is that it provides new evidence that the FDAs’ brains are not significantly activated by drug-related cues, implying that the rehabilitation programmes in Malaysia may be effective in inhibiting brain activity related to craving and promoting recovery from drug addiction. Future studies should explore other relapse factors such as stress or social influences to enhance rehabilitation strategies and support sustained recovery in Malaysia. |
| title | 2025_Subjective Craving And Neural Responses To Drug-Related Cues In Individuals With A History Of Drug Addiction: An fMRI Study |
| title_full | 2025_Subjective Craving And Neural Responses To Drug-Related Cues In Individuals With A History Of Drug Addiction: An fMRI Study |
| title_fullStr | 2025_Subjective Craving And Neural Responses To Drug-Related Cues In Individuals With A History Of Drug Addiction: An fMRI Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | 2025_Subjective Craving And Neural Responses To Drug-Related Cues In Individuals With A History Of Drug Addiction: An fMRI Study |
| title_short | 2025_Subjective Craving And Neural Responses To Drug-Related Cues In Individuals With A History Of Drug Addiction: An fMRI Study |
| title_sort | 2025_subjective craving and neural responses to drug-related cues in individuals with a history of drug addiction: an fmri study |