Correlations between cannabis use and IQ change in the Dunedin cohort are consistent with confounding from socioeconomic status.

ABSTRACT: Does cannabis use have substantial and permanent effects on neuropsychological functioning? Renewed and intense attention to the issue has followed recent research on the Dunedin cohort, which found a positive association between, on the one hand, adolescent-onset cannabis use and dependence and, on the other hand, a decline in IQ from childhood to adulthood [Meier et al. (2012) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109(40):E2657-E2664]. The association is given a causal interpretation by the authors, but existing research suggests an alternative confounding model based on time-varying effects of socioeconomic status on IQ. A simulation of the confounding model reproduces the reported associations from the Dunedin cohort, suggesting that the causal effects estimated in Meier et al. are likely to be overe

SUBMITTER: Rogeberg O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3600466 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature