Predicting craving among cocaine users.

Introduction: Craving for cocaine seems to play an important role in the continued use of and dependence on the substance.

Aims: to describe characteristics of the craving phenomenon in a sample of cocaine users and to identify those that could predict the appearance of the phenomenon.

Method: 205 cocaine users attending an outpatient clinic were interviewed to assess patterns of drug consumption and characteristics of craving for the drug.

Findings: Subjects were mostly young (24.8+/-12.8 years) and male (86.2%). One hundred and two subjects (49.8%) were addicted to cocaine and the remainders (50.2%) were non-addicted occasional cocaine users. The majority of subjects (60.5%) reported having had craving episodes during the previous week. Frequency of cocaine use during the previous month correlated with the number of reported craving fits (r=0.425; p<0.001) and with the duration of the craving fits (r=0.351; p<0.001). Users of crack reported more craving episodes than did the users of snorted cocaine (p<0.001) and the frequency of craving fits was inversely proportional to the duration of abstinence from the drug (r=-0.405; p<0.001).

Conclusion: Both the method of drug consumption and the abstinence period elapsed since previous drug intake were identified as predictive parameters of craving.