Adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986
Background Cannabis use has been associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorders. However, associations between adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders are inconsistently reported in longitudinal samples. Aims To study associations of adolescent cannabis use with depressio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2021-07-01
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| Series: | BJPsych Open |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472421009674/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811156911532277760 |
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| author | Antti Mustonen Emily Hielscher Jouko Miettunen Alexander Denissoff Anni-Emilia Alakokkare James G. Scott Solja Niemelä |
| author_facet | Antti Mustonen Emily Hielscher Jouko Miettunen Alexander Denissoff Anni-Emilia Alakokkare James G. Scott Solja Niemelä |
| author_sort | Antti Mustonen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background
Cannabis use has been associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorders. However, associations between adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders are inconsistently reported in longitudinal samples.
Aims
To study associations of adolescent cannabis use with depression and anxiety disorders.
Method
We used data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986, linked to nationwide registers, to study the association between adolescent cannabis use and depression and anxiety disorders until 33 years of age (until 2018).
Results
We included 6325 participants (48.8% male) in the analyses; 352 (5.6%) participants reported cannabis use until 15–16 years of age. By the end of the follow-up, 583 (9.2%) participants were diagnosed with unipolar depression and 688 (10.9%) were diagnosed with anxiety disorder. Cannabis use in adolescence was associated with an increased risk of depression and anxiety disorders in crude models. After adjusting for parental psychiatric disorder, baseline emotional and behavioural problems, demographic factors and other substance use, using cannabis five or more times was associated with increased risk of anxiety disorders (hazard ratio 2.01, 95% CI 1.15–3.82), and using cannabis once (hazard ratio 1.93, 95% CI 1.30–2.87) or two to four times (hazard ratio 2.02, 95% CI 1.24–3.31) was associated with increased risk of depression.
Conclusions
Cannabis use in adolescence was associated with an increased risk of future depression and anxiety disorders. Further research is needed to clarify if this is a causal association, which could then inform public health messages about the use of cannabis in adolescence.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:59:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-57ed5377a4704af399b868357b45216d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-4724 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:59:03Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BJPsych Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-57ed5377a4704af399b868357b45216d2023-03-09T12:29:07ZengCambridge University PressBJPsych Open2056-47242021-07-01710.1192/bjo.2021.967Adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986Antti Mustonen0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3259-2122Emily Hielscher1Jouko Miettunen2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0575-2669Alexander Denissoff3Anni-Emilia Alakokkare4James G. Scott5Solja Niemelä6Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Finland; Center for Life Course Health Research, University of Oulu, Finland; and Department of Psychiatry, Seinäjoki Central Hospital, FinlandQIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Australia; School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Australia; and Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, AustraliaCenter for Life Course Health Research, University of Oulu, Finland; and Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, FinlandDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Turku, FinlandCenter for Life Course Health Research, University of Oulu, Finland; and Department of Psychiatry, University of Turku, FinlandQIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Australia; School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Australia; Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Australia; and Metro North Mental Health Service, AustraliaDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Turku, Finland; and Addiction Psychiatry Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Turku University Hospital, FinlandBackground Cannabis use has been associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorders. However, associations between adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders are inconsistently reported in longitudinal samples. Aims To study associations of adolescent cannabis use with depression and anxiety disorders. Method We used data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986, linked to nationwide registers, to study the association between adolescent cannabis use and depression and anxiety disorders until 33 years of age (until 2018). Results We included 6325 participants (48.8% male) in the analyses; 352 (5.6%) participants reported cannabis use until 15–16 years of age. By the end of the follow-up, 583 (9.2%) participants were diagnosed with unipolar depression and 688 (10.9%) were diagnosed with anxiety disorder. Cannabis use in adolescence was associated with an increased risk of depression and anxiety disorders in crude models. After adjusting for parental psychiatric disorder, baseline emotional and behavioural problems, demographic factors and other substance use, using cannabis five or more times was associated with increased risk of anxiety disorders (hazard ratio 2.01, 95% CI 1.15–3.82), and using cannabis once (hazard ratio 1.93, 95% CI 1.30–2.87) or two to four times (hazard ratio 2.02, 95% CI 1.24–3.31) was associated with increased risk of depression. Conclusions Cannabis use in adolescence was associated with an increased risk of future depression and anxiety disorders. Further research is needed to clarify if this is a causal association, which could then inform public health messages about the use of cannabis in adolescence. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472421009674/type/journal_articleDepressive disordersanxiety disordersepidemiologycannabisbirth cohort |
| spellingShingle | Antti Mustonen Emily Hielscher Jouko Miettunen Alexander Denissoff Anni-Emilia Alakokkare James G. Scott Solja Niemelä Adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 BJPsych Open Depressive disorders anxiety disorders epidemiology cannabis birth cohort |
| title | Adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 |
| title_full | Adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 |
| title_fullStr | Adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 |
| title_short | Adolescent cannabis use, depression and anxiety disorders in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 |
| title_sort | adolescent cannabis use depression and anxiety disorders in the northern finland birth cohort 1986 |
| topic | Depressive disorders anxiety disorders epidemiology cannabis birth cohort |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2056472421009674/type/journal_article |
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