Dataset Information

Light Cannabis Use and the Adolescent Brain: An 8-years Longitudinal Assessment of Mental Health, Cognition, and Reward Processing.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

For decades, cannabis has been the most widely used illicit substance in the world, particularly among youth. Research suggests that mental health problems associated with cannabis use may result from its effect on reward brain circuit, emotional processes, and cognition. However, findings are mostly derived from correlational studies and inconsistent, particularly in adolescents.

Objectives and methods

Using data from the IMAGEN study, participants (non-users, persistent users, abstinent users) were classified according to their cannabis use at 19 and 22 years-old. All participants were cannabis-naïve at baseline (14 years-old). Psychopathological symptoms, cognitive performance, and brain activity while performing a Monetary Incentive Delay task were used as predictors of substance use and to analyze group differences over time.

Results

Higher scores on conduct problems and lower on peer problems at 14 years-old (n = 318) predicted a greater likelihood of transitioning to cannabis use within 5 years. At 19 years of age, individuals who consistently engaged in low-frequency (i.e., light) cannabis use (n = 57) exhibited greater conduct problems and hyperactivity/inattention symptoms compared to non-users (n = 52) but did not differ in emotional symptoms, cognitive functioning, or brain activity during the MID task. At 22 years, those who used cannabis at both 19 and 22 years-old n = 17), but not individuals that had been abstinent for ≥ 1 month (n = 19), reported higher conduct problems than non-users (n = 17).

Conclusions

Impairments in reward-related brain activity and cognitive functioning do not appear to precede or succeed cannabis use (i.e., weekly, or monthly use). Cannabis-naïve adolescents with conduct problems and more socially engaged with their peers may be at a greater risk for lighter yet persistent cannabis use in the future.

SUBMITTER: Macedo I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11199211 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Light Cannabis Use and the Adolescent Brain: An 8-years Longitudinal Assessment of Mental Health, Cognition, and Reward Processing.

Macedo Inês I Paiva Tiago O TO Pasion Rita R Daedelow Laura L Heinz Andreas A Magalhães Ana A Banaschewski Tobias T Bokde Arun L W ALW Desrivières Sylvane S Flor Herta H Grigis Antoine A Garavan Hugh H Gowland Penny P Brühl Rüdiger R Martinot Jean-Luc JL Martinot Marie-Laure Paillère MP Artiges Eric E Nees Frauke F Orfanos Dimitri Papadopoulos DP Paus Tomáš T Poustka Luise L Hohmann Sarah S Holz Nathalie N Fröhner Juliane H JH Smolka Michael N MN Vaidya Nilakshi N Walter Henrik H Whelan Robert R Schumann Gunter G Barbosa Fernando F

Psychopharmacology 20240326 7

<h4>Rationale</h4>For decades, cannabis has been the most widely used illicit substance in the world, particularly among youth. Research suggests that mental health problems associated with cannabis use may result from its effect on reward brain circuit, emotional processes, and cognition. However, findings are mostly derived from correlational studies and inconsistent, particularly in adolescents.<h4>Objectives and methods</h4>Using data from the IMAGEN study, participants (non-users, persisten ...[more]

PMID: 38532040

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Project description:Background: Adolescent cannabis use (CU) is associated with adverse health outcomes and may be increasing in response to changing cannabis laws. Recent imaging studies have identified differences in brain activity between adult CU and controls that are more prominent in early onset users. Whether these differences are present in adolescent CU and relate to age/developmental stage, sex, or cannabis exposure is unknown. Methods: A systematic review and subsequent effect-size seed-based d mapping (SDM) meta-analysis were conducted to examine differences in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response during fMRI studies between CU and non-using typically developing (TD) youth. Supplemental analyses investigated differences in BOLD signal in CU and TD youth as a function of sex, psychiatric comorbidity, and the dose and severity of cannabis exposure. Results: From 1371 citations, 45 fMRI studies were identified for inclusion in the SDM meta-analysis. These studies compared BOLD response contrasts in 1216 CU and 1486 non-using TD participants. In primary meta-analyses stratified by cognitive paradigms, CU (compared to TD) youth showed greater activation in the rostral medial prefrontal cortex (rmPFC) and decreased activation in the dorsal mPFC (dmPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) during executive control and social cognition/emotion processing, respectively. In meta-regression analyses and subgroup meta-analyses, sex, cannabis use disorder (CUD) severity, and psychiatric comorbidity were correlated with brain activation differences between CU and TD youth in mPFC and insular cortical regions. Activation differences in the caudate, thalamus, insula, dmPFC/dACC, and precentral and postcentral gyri varied as a function of the length of abstinence. Conclusions: Using an SDM meta-analytic approach, this report identified differences in neuronal response between CU and TD youth during executive control, emotion processing, and reward processing in cortical and subcortical brain regions that varied as a function of sex, CUD severity, psychiatric comorbidity, and length of abstinence. Whether aberrant brain function in CU youth is attributable to common predispositional factors, cannabis-induced neuroadaptive changes, or both warrants further investigation.

Dataset Information

Light Cannabis Use and the Adolescent Brain: An 8-years Longitudinal Assessment of Mental Health, Cognition, and Reward Processing.

Rationale

Objectives and methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Light Cannabis Use and the Adolescent Brain: An 8-years Longitudinal Assessment of Mental Health, Cognition, and Reward Processing.

Similar Datasets

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