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Diminished Structural Brain Integrity in Long-term Cannabis Users Reflects a History of Polysubstance Use.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Knodt, AR; Meier, MH; Ambler, A; Gehred, MZ; Harrington, H; Ireland, D; Poulton, R; Ramrakha, S; Caspi, A; Moffitt, TE; Hariri, AR
Published in: Biological psychiatry
December 2022

Cannabis legalization and use are outpacing our understanding of its long-term effects on brain and behavior, which is fundamental for effective policy and health practices. Existing studies are limited by small samples, cross-sectional measures, failure to separate long-term from recreational use, and inadequate control for other substance use. Here, we address these limitations by determining the structural brain integrity of long-term cannabis users in the Dunedin Study, a longitudinal investigation of a population-representative birth cohort followed to midlife.We leveraged prospective measures of cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, and other illicit drug use in addition to structural neuroimaging in 875 study members at age 45 to test for differences in both global and regional gray and white matter integrity between long-term cannabis users and lifelong nonusers. We additionally tested for dose-response associations between continuous measures of cannabis use and brain structure, including careful adjustments for use of other substances.Long-term cannabis users had a thinner cortex, smaller subcortical gray matter volumes, and higher machine learning-predicted brain age than nonusers. However, these differences in structural brain integrity were explained by the propensity of long-term cannabis users to engage in polysubstance use, especially with alcohol and tobacco.These findings suggest that diminished midlife structural brain integrity in long-term cannabis users reflects a broader pattern of polysubstance use, underlining the importance of understanding comorbid substance use in efforts to curb the negative effects of cannabis on brain and behavior as well as establish more effective policy and health practices.

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Published In

Biological psychiatry

DOI

EISSN

1873-2402

ISSN

0006-3223

Publication Date

December 2022

Volume

92

Issue

11

Start / End Page

861 / 870

Related Subject Headings

  • Substance-Related Disorders
  • Psychiatry
  • Prospective Studies
  • Middle Aged
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Humans
  • Hallucinogens
  • Ethanol
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Cannabis
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Knodt, A. R., Meier, M. H., Ambler, A., Gehred, M. Z., Harrington, H., Ireland, D., … Hariri, A. R. (2022). Diminished Structural Brain Integrity in Long-term Cannabis Users Reflects a History of Polysubstance Use. Biological Psychiatry, 92(11), 861–870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.06.018
Knodt, Annchen R., Madeline H. Meier, Antony Ambler, Maria Z. Gehred, HonaLee Harrington, David Ireland, Richie Poulton, et al. “Diminished Structural Brain Integrity in Long-term Cannabis Users Reflects a History of Polysubstance Use.Biological Psychiatry 92, no. 11 (December 2022): 861–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.06.018.
Knodt AR, Meier MH, Ambler A, Gehred MZ, Harrington H, Ireland D, et al. Diminished Structural Brain Integrity in Long-term Cannabis Users Reflects a History of Polysubstance Use. Biological psychiatry. 2022 Dec;92(11):861–70.
Knodt, Annchen R., et al. “Diminished Structural Brain Integrity in Long-term Cannabis Users Reflects a History of Polysubstance Use.Biological Psychiatry, vol. 92, no. 11, Dec. 2022, pp. 861–70. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.06.018.
Knodt AR, Meier MH, Ambler A, Gehred MZ, Harrington H, Ireland D, Poulton R, Ramrakha S, Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Hariri AR. Diminished Structural Brain Integrity in Long-term Cannabis Users Reflects a History of Polysubstance Use. Biological psychiatry. 2022 Dec;92(11):861–870.
Journal cover image

Published In

Biological psychiatry

DOI

EISSN

1873-2402

ISSN

0006-3223

Publication Date

December 2022

Volume

92

Issue

11

Start / End Page

861 / 870

Related Subject Headings

  • Substance-Related Disorders
  • Psychiatry
  • Prospective Studies
  • Middle Aged
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Humans
  • Hallucinogens
  • Ethanol
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Cannabis