cannabis use may be associated with suicidality in young adults
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for individuals with depression, suicidality was higher. /
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a new study out of the u.s. suggests using cannabis may be associated with suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts among young adults, regardless of whether or not they also were experiencing depression.
“from 2008 to 2019, suicidal ideation, plan and attempt increased 40 per cent to 60 per cent over increases ascribed to cannabis use and major depressive episode (mde),” study authors write.
“while we cannot establish that cannabis use caused the increased suicidality we observed in this study, these associations warrant further research, especially given the great burden of suicide on young adults,” dr. nora volkow, director of the national institute on drug abuse (nida), part of the national institutes of health, says in a statement.
nida investigators looked at survey data from 281,650 adults aged 18 to 34, the age range when most substance use and mood disorders emerge. participants fell into four groups: no cannabis use, non-daily cannabis use, daily cannabis use (at least 300 days annually) and presence of cannabis use disorder (cud).
the idea behind the study was to help fill some gaps in knowledge regarding cannabis use and suicidality. investigators sought to determine if cannabis use and cud are associated with a higher prevalence of suicidality among young adults with or without depression, the study abstract notes.
researchers looked at data from the 2008 to 2019 national surveys on drug use and health, which includes information from those 12 and older on cannabis use and use disorder, depression, suicidality and other behavioural health indicators.
published this week in jama network open, study results indicate “that even people who used cannabis non-daily, fewer than 300 days a year, were more likely to have suicidal ideation and to plan or attempt suicide than those who did not use the drug at all,” the nida statement notes.
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after controlling for mde, cud, cannabis use status and potential confounding factors, study authors write “the prevalence of suicidal ideation, plan and attempt increased 1.4 to 1.6 times from the 2008-2009 to 2018-2019 periods.”
for people without an mde, just three per cent of those who did not use weed experienced suicidal ideation. that compares to about seven per cent of non-daily users, nine per cent of daily users and 14 per cent of those with cud.
for individuals with depression, suicidality was higher. in all, 35 per cent of people who did not use cannabis had suicidal ideation, while 44 per cent of non-daily cannabis users, 53 per cent of daily users and 50 per cent of those with cud reported this.
“similar trends existed for the associations between different levels of cannabis use and suicide plan or attempt,” nida reports.
but beyond identifying increased risks of suicidal ideation, plan and attempt among participants in general, nida notes the review also points to risks being greater for women, regardless of how often they consumed, than men.
among women without mde, suicidal ideation for those with — compared to without — cud was 13.9 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively. for men, it was 9.9 per cent and 3.0 per cent.
when an individual had both cud and mde, past-year suicide plan was 23.7 per cent for women and 15.6 per cent for men.
nida reports the number of u.s. adults who use cannabis more than doubled from 22.6 million in 2008 to 45.0 million in 2019; also way up are daily or near-daily users. over that timeframe, the number of adults with depression and people reporting suicidal ideation or plan, or actual death, also rose.
“suicide is a leading cause of death among young adults in the united states, and the findings of this study offer important information that may help us reduce this risk,” says nida’s dr. beth han, lead author of the study.
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pointing out that the findings underscore the importance of tailoring interventions and taking gender into account, “depression and cannabis use disorder are treatable conditions, and cannabis use can be modified,” han adds.
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