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. 2022 Oct 10:13:973988.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.973988. eCollection 2022.

Variations of cannabis-related adverse mental health and addiction outcomes across adolescence and adulthood: A scoping review

Navdeep Kaur  1 , Gabriel Bastien  1   2 , Lea Gagnon  1 , Johann Graham  2   3 , Violaine Mongeau-Pérusse  2 , Hamzah Bakouni  1 , Florence Morissette  2 , Camille Theriault  2 , Benedikt Fischer  4   5   6   7 , Didier Jutras-Aswad  1   2
Affiliations

Variations of cannabis-related adverse mental health and addiction outcomes across adolescence and adulthood: A scoping review

Navdeep Kaur et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Introduction: Evidence supporting associations between cannabis use and many health outcomes is growing, however it remains unclear how such associations vary across the lifespan. We therefore aim to answer the following questions: (1) Are the risks of cannabis's adverse effects on mental health and addiction-related outcomes different in adolescents than in adults? (2) What are the relationships between these cannabis's adverse effects and (a) an individual's age at first cannabis use, (b) age at assessment, and (c) duration of cannabis use?

Methods: We searched Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and PsychINFO from inception to 18 October 2021. Two reviewers independently screened studies and descriptively synthesized results.

Results: We included 140 studies. Cannabis effects on mental health and addiction-related outcomes were worse in adolescents, early cannabis initiators and cannabis users who consumed for longest periods. Evidence of worse long-term adverse effects in adolescents was substantial for psychosis, cannabis, and nicotine use disorders; mixed for depression, suicidality, other substance use and disorders; and limited for anxiety. Additionally, acute cannabis exposure had the opposite trend with adults more often reporting adverse effects than adolescents.

Conclusion: The available evidence suggests that cannabis use should be delayed as late as possible in adulthood and shortened in duration across the lifespan to decrease the risk of negative outcomes, while emphasizing the need for adapted harm reduction approaches. This scoping review provides evidence on the role of age and duration of exposure as determinants of cannabis-related adverse effects, which may inform prevention and harm reduction strategies.

Systematic review registration: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/BYG72.

Keywords: addictive behavior; adolescent; adult; cannabis; mental health.

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Conflict of interest statement

LG was now employed by AbbVie Corporation who does not support any of the author’s views and declares that this is the author’s independent work. VM was currently employed by Indivior who had no input, control or review of this article and confirms it is the author’s own independent work. DJ-A receives study materials from Tetra BioPharma and Cardiol Therapeutics for clinical trials funded by the Quebec’s Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
PRISMA flow diagram of the search and study selection process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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