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Cannabis use and risk of psychosis: an etiological link?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2011

Helene Verdoux  and
Marie Tournier
Helene Verdoux*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, EA 3676 MP2S, IFR99 of Public Health, University Victor Segalen Bordeaux2, Bordeaux, France
Marie Tournier
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, EA 3676 MP2S, IFR99 of Public Health, University Victor Segalen Bordeaux2, Bordeaux, France
*
Address for correspondence: Prof. H.Verdoux, Hôpital Charles Perrens, 121 rue de la Béchade, 33076 Bordeaux Cedex (France). Fax: (33) 556-56-35-46 E-mail: helene.verdoux@ipso.u-bordeaux2.fr
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Summary

Objective – The nature of the link between cannabis use and psychosis remains to be clarified. Method – The paper reviews the evidence suggesting that cannabis may be a risk factor for psychosis onset. Results – Cross-sectional and retro- spective epidemiological studies show that individuals with psychosis use cannabis more often than other individuals in the gener- al population. It has long been considered that this association is explained by the self-medication hypothesis, postulating that cannabis is used to self-medicate psychotic symptoms. This hypothesis has been recently challenged by several prospective stud- ies carried out in population-based samples, showing that cannabis exposure is associated with an increased risk of psychosis, pos- sibly by interacting with a pre-existing vulnerability for these disorders. A dose-response relationship was found between cannabis exposure and risk of psychosis, and this association was independent from potential confounding factors such as exposure to other drugs and pre-existence of psychotic symptoms. However, the diagnostic specificity is weak, as cannabis exposure may be a risk factor for the occurrence of a large spectrum of psychiatric disorders, ranging from schizophrenia to mood and anxiety disorders. Conclusion – Considering the growing number of adolescents exposed to cannabis, the impact of this substance on the population mental health should be further explored.

Type
Invited Papers
Information
Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , June 2004 , pp. 113 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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Footnotes

*

Paper presented at the VI National Congress of the Italian Society of Psychiatric Epidemiology (SIEP), held in Sirmione (BS), 6-8 November 2003.

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