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Role of Craving in the Transition Across Level of Addiction Severity: A Longitudinal Study.

Symptom Networks Characteristics and Centrality of Craving as Markers of Transition Across Levels of Addiction Severity: A Longitudinal Study

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Observational
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07734363
Acronym
CARDEMA
Enrollment
700
Registered
2026-07-29
Start date
2026-05-20
Completion date
2031-06-01
Last updated
2026-07-29

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Addiction

Keywords

Substance Use Disorder, Addiction, Symptoms network, Ecological Momentary Assessment, Trajectory, Staging

Brief summary

Substance/Alcohol Use disorders are defined as a loss of control over the use despite harmul consequences, as well as an intense and persistent urge to use, also called craving. Previous research has shown that craving is central among the diagnostic criteria for addiction, suggesting that it may be important in the onset and persistence of addiction. Addiction develops progressively, and it appears crucial to identify predictive markers of the transition from one level of severity to another over time. One hypothesis is that more closely linked symptoms (meaning symptoms that influence each other more) could be associated with greater severity and/or with the evolution of addiction severity over time. The aim of this project is to explore how the characteristics of the association between addiction symptoms (diagnostic criteria and symptoms as they occur in daily life), and the importance of craving relative to other symptoms, could serve as markers of different addiction severities and of the transition across these levels of severity.

Detailed description

Exploratory analyses will assess whether craving network metrics, including craving symptom centrality, network global strength, and node predictability, are associated with participant characteristics and clinical measures. Potential predictors and correlates will include sociodemographic characteristics, addiction type and history, psychiatric comorbidities, addiction severity, cognitive performance, personality traits, insight, interoceptive awareness, anxiety and depressive symptoms, childhood trauma, and quality of life. These variables will be assessed using age and sex data, addiction history variables, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Addiction Severity Index, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Iowa Gambling Task, Stroop task, UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale, Sensation Seeking Scale, Temperament and Character Inventory, HAIS-m, MAIA-2, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form, and Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form. Associations will be explored using correlation and regression analyses, as appropriate to the distribution and measurement level of each variable, at baseline and at the 1-year and 2-year follow-ups.

Interventions

OTHERObservational assessments (EMA and annual DSM-5 evaluations)

Participants are observed over two years. Annual DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for substance use disorders (SUD) are assessed, and participants complete 2-week EMA protocols measuring substance use, craving, and related factors four times per day. No intervention is administered.

Sponsors

University of Bordeaux
Lead SponsorOTHER
Hospices Civils de Lyon
CollaboratorOTHER

Study design

Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Be over 18 years of age * Identify a primary substance as a main problematic substance use. * Be a regular user (at least twice a week in the last 30 days) of a primary substance (defined as their main problematic substance use). * Present a current diagnosis of SUD for this primary substance according to DSM-5 criteria.

Exclusion criteria

* Medical, psychiatric or addiction condition that warrants immediate inpatient treatment intervention. * Somatic, cognitive or other disorders preventing the use of the smartphone device (deafness, impaired vision, illiteracy….). * Not being familiar with the use of smartphone * Having a smartphone not compatible with the application and being unable to visit the laboratory to receive a loaner phone for the study. * Difficulty in understanding and/or writing and/or reading French. * Individuals participating in another study that includes an ongoing exclusion period. * Be deprived of liberty due to an ongoing legal procedure. * Be under legal protection. * Be under guardianship or conservatorship.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Craving centrality in the DSM-5 Substance Use Disorder diagnostic criteria networkBaseline, 1-year follow-up, 2-year follow-upCraving centrality will be quantified as the expected influence centrality of the DSM-5 craving criterion within a cross-sectional network including the 11 DSM-5 Substance Use Disorder diagnostic criteria. Expected influence values will be estimated for each assessment (baseline, 1-year and 2-year follow-up) and compared across addiction severity groups and severity transition groups.
Global connectivity of the DSM-5 Substance Use Disorder diagnostic criteria networkBaseline, 1-year follow-up, 2-year follow-upGlobal network connectivity will be quantified as global strength (sum of absolute edge weights) of the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria network. Global strength estimates will be compared across addiction severity groups and severity transition groups.
Predictability of nodes in the DSM-5 Substance Use Disorder diagnostic criteria networkBaseline, 1-year follow-up, 2-year follow-upNode predictability will be calculated as the proportion of variance explained (R²) for each DSM-5 diagnostic criterion by its neighboring nodes within the network. Mean node predictability will be reported and compared across addiction severity groups and severity transition groups.
Differences in DSM-5 Substance Use Disorder diagnostic criteria network structureBaseline, 1-year follow-up, 2-year follow-upDifferences in overall network structure and global strength between addiction severity groups and severity transition groups will be evaluated using the Network Comparison Test (NCT). The reported outcome will be the statistical significance of differences in network structure.
Temporal network structure of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) symptomsBaseline, 1-year follow-up, 2-year follow-upTemporal directed network parameters estimated from ecological momentary assessment data including primary substance use, craving, affect, self-efficacy, withdrawal symptoms, cues, stress, coping, sleep, impulsivity and other daily-life variables. Temporal edge weights will be estimated using multilevel vector autoregressive models and compared across severity groups and severity transition groups.
Contemporaneous network structure of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) symptomsBaseline, 1-year follow-up, 2-year follow-upContemporaneous partial correlation network estimated from ecological momentary assessment variables. Network structure will be compared across severity groups and severity transition groups.
Between-subject network structure of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) symptomsBaseline, 1-year follow-up, 2-year follow-upBetween-subject partial correlation network estimated from ecological momentary assessment variables. Network structure will be compared across severity groups and severity transition groups.
Individual network invariance assessed by the Individual Network Invariance Test (INIT)Baseline, 1-year follow-up, 2-year follow-upIndividual Network Invariance Test (INIT) results will assess whether each participant's symptom network significantly differs from the group-level network. The proportion of significant INIT tests will be reported and compared across severity groups.

Countries

France

Contacts

CONTACTFuschia SERRE, Ph-D
fuschia.serre@u-bordeaux.fr+33 05 56 56 17 38
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORFuschia SERRE

University of Bordeaux

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jul 30, 2026