Teenagers who use cannabis have a dramatic increased risk for a psychotic disorder compared with their counterparts who don't use the drug, new research showed.
"These findings are consistent with the neurodevelopmental theory that teens are especially vulnerable to the effects of cannabis," said McDonald, who conducted the research."Epidemiologic research suggests that cannabis use may be a significant risk factor for psychotic disorders," the authors wrote.
They excluded respondents who used health services for psychotic disorders during the 6 years prior to their CCHS interview date. Compared with no cannabis use, cannabis use was significantly associated with an 11-fold increased risk for psychotic disorders during adolescence, although not during young adulthood .When the researchers restricted the outcome to hospitalizations and ED visits only, the strength of association"increased markedly" during adolescence, with a 26-fold higher association in cannabis users than in nonusers . However, there was no meaningful change during young adulthood .
The authors noted several limitations. For instance, it's unclear to what extent unmeasured confounders including genetic predisposition, family history of psychotic disorders, and trauma might have biased the results. In addition, they could not assess the potential confounding impact of genetic predisposition to psychotic disorders. The possibility of reverse causality also cannot be ruled out.
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Source: Medscape - 🏆 386. / 55 Read more »