@article{ref1,
title="Daily use of high-potency cannabis is associated with more positive symptoms in first-episode psychosis patients: the EU-GEI case-control study",
journal="Psychological medicine",
year="2020",
author="Quattrone, Diego and Ferraro, Laura and Tripoli, Giada and La Cascia, Caterina and Quigley, Harriet and Quattrone, Andrea and Jongsma, Hannah E. and Del Peschio, Simona and Gatto, Giusy and Gayer-Anderson, Charlotte and Jones, Peter B. and Kirkbride, James B. and La Barbera, Daniele and Tarricone, Ilaria and Berardi, Domenico and Tosato, Sarah and Lasalvia, Antonio and Szöke, Andrei and Arango, Celso and Bernardo, Miquel and Bobes, Julio and Del Ben, Cristina Marta and Menezes, Paulo Rossi and Llorca, Pierre-Michel and Santos, Jose Luis and Sanjuan, Julio and Tortelli, Andrea and Velthorst, Eva and de Haan, Lieuwe and Rutten, Bart P. F. and Lynskey, Michael T. and Freeman, Tom P. and Sham, Pak C. and Cardno, Alastair G. and Vassos, Evangelos and van Os, Jim and Morgan, Craig and Reininghaus, Ulrich and Lewis, Cathryn M. and Murray, Robin M. and Di Forti, Marta",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Daily use of high-potency cannabis has been reported to carry a high risk for developing a psychotic disorder. However, the evidence is mixed on whether any pattern of cannabis use is associated with a particular symptomatology in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients. <br><br>METHOD: We analysed data from 901 FEP patients and 1235 controls recruited across six countries, as part of the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study. We used item response modelling to estimate two bifactor models, which included general and specific dimensions of psychotic symptoms in patients and psychotic experiences in controls. The associations between these dimensions and cannabis use were evaluated using linear mixed-effects models analyses. <br><br>RESULTS: In patients, there was a linear relationship between the positive symptom dimension and the extent of lifetime exposure to cannabis, with daily users of high-potency cannabis having the highest score (B = 0.35; 95% CI 0.14-0.56). Moreover, negative symptoms were more common among patients who never used cannabis compared with those with any pattern of use (B = -0.22; 95% CI -0.37 to -0.07). In controls, psychotic experiences were associated with current use of cannabis but not with the extent of lifetime use. Neither patients nor controls presented differences in depressive dimension related to cannabis use. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide the first large-scale evidence that FEP patients with a history of daily use of high-potency cannabis present with more positive and less negative symptoms, compared with those who never used cannabis or used low-potency types.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0033-2917",
doi="10.1017/S0033291720000082",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720000082"
}