Sex-related differences in subjective, but not neural, cue-elicited craving response
posted 01/04/2020
publication https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.107931
Sex-related differences in subjective, but not neural, cue-elicited craving response in heavy cannabis users
ShikhaPrashad, Ryan P.Hammonds, Amanda L. Wiese, Amber L.Milligan, Francesca M.Filbey
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.107931Get rights and content
Highlights
• We examined sex-related differences in neural and subjective craving to cannabis.
• We used PCA to assess relative contributions of neural and subjective craving.
• There were no differences in neural response, which accounted for the most variance.
• There were differences in subjective craving.
• Accounting for these individual differences will increase efficacy of treatments.
Abstract
Background
Studies indicate that female cannabis users progress through the milestones of cannabis use disorder (CUD) more quickly than male users, likely due to greater subjective craving response in women relative to men. While studies have reported sex-related differences in subjective craving, differences in neural response and the relative contributions of neural and behavioral response remain unclear.
Methods
We examined sex-related differences in neural and behavioral response to cannabis cues and cannabis use measures in 112 heavy cannabis users (54 females). We used principal component analysis to determine the relative contributions of neural and behavioral response and cannabis use measures.
Results
We found that principal component (PC) 1, which accounts for the most variance in the dataset, was correlated with neural response to cannabis cues with no differences between male and female users (p = 0.21). PC2, which accounts for the second-most variance, was correlated with subjective craving such that female users exhibited greater subjective craving relative to male users (p = 0.003). We also found that CUD symptoms correlated with both PC1 and PC2, corroborating the relationship between craving and CUD severity.
Conclusions
These results indicate that neural activity primarily underlies response to cannabis cues and that a complex relationship characterizes a convergent neural response and a divergent subjective craving response that differs between the sexes. Accounting for these differences will increase efficacy of treatments through personalized approaches.
Keywords
Cannabis
Sex-related differences
Cue-elicited craving
Neural response
Subjective craving
Principal component analysis
