Daily Cannabis Use Associated With Earlier Onset of Psychosis.

Medscape (http://tinyurl.com/marijuana-and-early-psychosis 11/18) reported that, according to a study published in the Nov. issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, “daily use of cannabis or tobacco has been linked to an earlier age of onset of prodromal and psychotic symptoms.” In a study of “109 patients (24% women) aged 18 to 40 years” who “were experiencing a first episode of psychotic symptoms,” Emory University School of Medicine researchers “classified patients according to their frequency of cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco use…before the onset of prodromal and psychotic symptoms.” After examining “changes in substance use over time,” the team discovered “significant effects of progression to both daily cannabis use and daily tobacco use on the risk for onset of psychosis,” with “a greater effect in” females.

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Cannabis use may be associated with earlier age at schizophrenia development, research suggests.

MedWire (4/20, Cowen) reported that, according to a study published in the journal European Psychiatry, “cannabis use is significantly associated with earlier age at schizophrenia development, with a higher frequency of use linked to a younger age at onset.” For the study, researchers from Spain’s Hospital Clínic i Universitari examined “data on 116 patients, aged less than 35 years, who were treated for a first episode of psychosis in Barcelona between 2002 and 2006, and who were subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia.” The team obtained “information on the patients’ use of cannabis and other drugs, as well as on the development of psychosis symptoms…from the patients’ medical records and their doctors.” The group found that, “overall, cannabis users developed psychosis an average 1.93 years earlier than those who did not use the drug.” Moreover, “average age at first treatment decreased as the degree and frequency of cannabis use increased.”

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