title: The effect of DHEA complementary treatment on heroin addicts participating in a rehabilitation program: a preliminary study.
abstract: We evaluated the effect of DHEA complementary treatment in opiate addicts undergoing detoxification. DHEA (100 mg/day) or placebo was added to the routine medication protocol in a randomized, double blind controlled study. Follow-up for 12 months was conducted. Two separate DHEA-treated subgroups were identified by the Fuzzy clustering method: one showed statistically significant improvement in the severity of withdrawal symptoms, depression and anxiety scores (n=34; p<0.001 for all) and the other subgroup deteriorated in all measures (n=15). DHEA at the end of the detoxification program showed a tendency towards correlation with the duration of abstinence (r=0.6843; p>0.05; n=6), while a negative correlation was obtained with the cortisol level (r=-0.900; p=0.005, n=8). The completion-rate of the DHEA-improved subgroup was greater than in the DHEA-deteriorated subgroup (64.7% vs. 33.3%, respectively). The influence of supplementary DHEA treatment was mostly effective in heroin addicts who had not previously used either cocaine or benzodiazepines and who had experienced only few withdrawal programs.
authors.affiliation: Felsenstein Medical Research Center, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Campus, Tel Aviv University, Israel. maayan@post.tau.ac.il
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maayan
authors.forename: Dafna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Touati-Werner
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shamir
authors.forename: Gal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yadid
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eisner
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weizman
authors.forename: Issaschar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Herman
mesh_terms: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D017143:Fuzzy Logic; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000209:etiology
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone; D006854:Hydrocortisone