Better IQ but worse Premorbid Academic Adjustment in cannabis-users psychotic patients: another brick in the intuition

Purpose: several studies report that patients with psychosis who used cannabis in their lifetime have a better cognitive performance than those who did not and this association is most likely due to a better premorbid functioning. We aimed to test the hypothesis of a better premorbid functioning in First Episode Psychosis (FEP) cannabis-using and non-using patients coming from different European countries. Materials and Methods: 1.745 people (746 cases; 999 healthy controls) completed the assessment for Intellectual Quotient (IQ) (WAIS-brief version) premorbid adjustment (Premorbid Adjustment Scale – PAS) and cannabis use (CEQ-Revised). We first obtained two main factors from PAS: “Premorbid Social Adjustment” (PSA) and “Premorbid Academic Adjustment” (PAA). We therefore performed linear mixed models with IQ, PSA, and PAA as dependent variables and cannabis lifetime (Yes/No) and subject status (Cases/Controls) as independent variables. Results: across all countries, IQ was higher in cannabis users patients compared to non users (p=0.027). Conversely, PAA resulted worst in cannabis-users patients than non users (p<0.001). Neverthless, cannabis-users patients showed better PSA scores than non users (p=0.009) and this difference was significantly greater in patients than controls (p=0.038). Moreover, a better IQ resulted related to a better PAA (<0.001) but not to PSA (p=0.260). Conclusions: a better IQ is not directly predictable by a better adjustment at school between 12 and 16 years (PAA), even if these two scores are positivelty correlated. Additionally we can speculate an independent relationship of IQ and a better sociability between 12 and 16 years (PSA) with cannabis use

Premorbid Adjustment and IQ in Patients With First-Episode Psychosis: A Multisite Case-Control Study of Their Relationship With Cannabis Use.

Psychotic patients with a lifetime history of cannabis use generally show better cognitive functioning than other psychotic patients. Some authors suggest that cannabis-using patients may have been less cognitively impaired and less socially withdrawn in their premorbid life. Using a dataset comprising 948 patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and 1313 population controls across 6 countries, we examined the extent to which IQ and both early academic (Academic Factor [AF]) and social adjustment (Social Factor [SF]) are related to the lifetime frequency of cannabis use in both patients and controls. We expected a higher IQ and a better premorbid social adjustment in psychotic patients who had ever used cannabis compared to patients without any history of use. We did not expect such differences in controls. In both patients and controls, IQ was 3 points higher among occasional-users than in never-users (mean difference [Mdiff] = 2.9, 95% CI = [1.2, 4.7]). Both cases and control daily-users had lower AF compared to occasional (Mdiff = -0.3, 95% CI = [-0.5; -0.2]) and never-users (Mdiff = -0.4, 95% CI = [-0.6; -0.2]). Finally, patient occasional (Mdiff = 0.3, 95% CI = [0.1; 0.5]) and daily-users (Mdiff = 0.4, 95% CI = [0.2; 0.6]) had better SF than their never-using counterparts. This difference was not present in controls (Fgroup*frequency(2, 2205) = 4.995, P = .007). Our findings suggest that the better premorbid social functioning of FEP with a history of cannabis use may have contributed to their likelihood to begin using cannabis, exposing them to its reported risk-increasing effects for Psychotic Disorders

Premorbid Adjustment and IQ in Patients with First-Episode Psychosis:A Multisite Case-Control Study of Their Relationship with Cannabis Use

Psychotic patients with a lifetime history of cannabis use generally show better cognitive functioning than other psychotic patients. Some authors suggest that cannabis-using patients may have been less cognitively impaired and less socially withdrawn in their premorbid life. Using a dataset comprising 948 patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and 1313 population controls across 6 countries, we examined the extent to which IQ and both early academic (Academic Factor [AF]) and social adjustment (Social Factor [SF]) are related to the lifetime frequency of cannabis use in both patients and controls. We expected a higher IQ and a better premorbid social adjustment in psychotic patients who had ever used cannabis compared to patients without any history of use. We did not expect such differences in controls. In both patients and controls, IQ was 3 points higher among occasional-users than in never-users (mean difference [Mdiff] = 2.9, 95% CI = [1.2, 4.7]). Both cases and control daily-users had lower AF compared to occasional (Mdiff = −0.3, 95% CI = [−0.5; −0.2]) and never-users (Mdiff = −0.4, 95% CI = [−0.6; −0.2]). Finally, patient occasional (Mdiff = 0.3, 95% CI = [0.1; 0.5]) and daily-users (Mdiff = 0.4, 95% CI = [0.2; 0.6]) had better SF than their never-using counterparts. This difference was not present in controls (Fgroup*frequency(2, 2205) = 4.995, P = .007). Our findings suggest that the better premorbid social functioning of FEP with a history of cannabis use may have contributed to their likelihood to begin using cannabis, exposing them to its reported risk-increasing effects for Psychotic Disorders

Premorbid Adjustment and IQ in Patients With First-Episode Psychosis: A Multisite Case-Control Study of Their Relationship With Cannabis Use

Psychotic patients with a lifetime history of cannabis use generally show better cognitive functioning than other psychotic patients. Some authors suggest that cannabis-using patients may have been less cognitively impaired and less socially withdrawn in their premorbid life. Using a dataset comprising 948 patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and 1313 population controls across 6 countries, we examined the extent to which IQ and both early academic (Academic Factor [AF]) and social adjustment (Social Factor [SF]) are related to the lifetime frequency of cannabis use in both patients and controls. We expected a higher IQ and a better premorbid social adjustment in psychotic patients who had ever used cannabis compared to patients without any history of use. We did not expect such differences in controls. In both patients and controls, IQ was 3 points higher among occasional-users than in never-users (mean difference [M-diff] = 2.9, 95% CI = [1.2, 4.7]). Both cases and control daily-users had lower AF compared to occasional (M-diff = -0.3, 95% CI = [-0.5; -0.2]) and never-users (M-diff = -0.4, 95% CI = [-0.6; -0.2]). Finally, patient occasional (M-diff = 0.3, 95% CI = [0.1; 0.5]) and daily-users (M-diff = 0.4, 95% CI = [0.2; 0.6]) had better SF than their never-using counterparts. This difference was not present in controls (F-group*frequency(2, 2205) = 4.995, P = .007). Our findings suggest that the better premorbid social functioning of FEP with a history of cannabis use may have contributed to their likelihood to begin using cannabis, exposing them to its reported risk-increasing effects for Psychotic Disorders