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Cannabis use in youth is associated with chronic inflammation

Power, Emmet, Mongan, David, Healy, Colm, Raj Susai, Subash, Focking, Melanie, Zammit, Stanley ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-9211, Cannon, Mary and Cotter, David 2024. Cannabis use in youth is associated with chronic inflammation. Psychological Medicine 54 (16) , pp. 4665-4675. 10.1017/S0033291724002848

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Abstract

Markers of inflammation and cannabis exposure are associated with increased risk of mental disorders. In the current study, we investigated associations between cannabis use and biomarkers of inflammation. Utilizing a sample of 914 participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, we investigated whether interleukin- 6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα), C-reactive protein (CRP) and soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) measured at age 24 were associated with past year daily cannabis use, less frequent cannabis use and no past year cannabis use. We adjusted for a number of covariates including sociodemographic measures, body mass index, childhood trauma and tobacco smoking. We found evidence of a strong association between daily or near daily cannabis use and suPAR. We did not find any associations between less frequent cannabis use and suPAR. We did not find evidence of an association between IL-6, TNFα or CRP and cannabis use. Our finding that frequent cannabis use is strongly associated with suPAR, a biomarker of systemic chronic inflammation implicated in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative processes is novel. These findings may provide valuable insights into biological mechanisms by which cannabis effects the brain and impacts on risk of serious mental disorders.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Medicine
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISSN: 0033-2917
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 18 November 2024
Date of Acceptance: 28 October 2024
Last Modified: 04 Feb 2025 14:11
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/173928

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