Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Psychol Med. 2012 Sep;42(9):1903-11. doi: 10.1017/S0033291712000062. Epub 2012 Mar 27.
Cannabis use is associated with an earlier age at onset of psychotic illness. The aim of the present study was to examine whether this association is confounded by gender or other substance use in a large cohort of patients with a non-affective psychotic disorder.
In 785 patients with a non-affective psychotic disorder, regression analysis was used to investigate the independent effects of gender, cannabis use and other drug use on age at onset of first psychosis.
Age at onset was 1.8 years earlier in cannabis users compared to non-users, controlling for gender and other possible confounders. Use of other drugs did not have an additional effect on age at onset when cannabis use was taken into account. In 63.5% of cannabis-using patients, age at most intense cannabis use preceded the age at onset of first psychosis. In males, the mean age at onset was 1.3 years lower than in females, controlling for cannabis use and other confounders.
Cannabis use and gender are independently associated with an earlier onset of psychotic illness. Our findings also suggest that cannabis use may precipitate psychosis. More research is needed to clarify the neurobiological factors that make people vulnerable to this precipitating effect of cannabis.
大麻使用与精神病发病年龄较早有关。本研究的目的是在一大群非情感性精神病患者中，检查这种关联是否受到性别或其他物质使用的混杂影响。
在 785 名非情感性精神病患者中，回归分析用于调查性别、大麻使用和其他药物使用对首次精神病发病年龄的独立影响。
在控制性别和其他可能的混杂因素后，与非使用者相比，大麻使用者的发病年龄提前了 1.8 年。当考虑到大麻使用时，其他药物的使用对发病年龄没有额外影响。在 63.5%的大麻使用者中，最强烈的大麻使用年龄早于首次精神病发病年龄。在控制大麻使用和其他混杂因素后，男性的平均发病年龄比女性低 1.3 岁。
大麻使用和性别与精神病发病年龄较早独立相关。我们的研究结果还表明，大麻使用可能会引发精神病。需要进一步的研究来阐明使人们易受大麻这种引发作用影响的神经生物学因素。
