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. 2023 Dec 20:36:100299.
doi: 10.1016/j.scog.2023.100299. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Does cannabis affect cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia?

Hajar Rachid  1   2   3 , Zineb Saif  4 , Salma Raoui  2   3 , Zineb Serhier  3   5 , Mohamed Agoub  1   2   3
Affiliations

Does cannabis affect cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia?

Hajar Rachid et al. Schizophr Res Cogn. .

Abstract

Introduction: Cannabis use impairs cognitive performance in healthy subjects; several studies have shown improved cognitive outcomes in schizophrenic patients using cannabis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of cannabis use on cognitive function in Moroccan patients with schizophrenia who were cannabis users.

Method: Two groups were recruited in a Moroccan University Psychiatric Centre. Fifty patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to the DSM-V who were cannabis users (SZ CANN +) and forty-nine patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to DSM-V who do not use cannabis (SZ CANN-). Cognitive functioning was assessed using the CogState neuropsychological battery.

Results: The results of the study suggest that SZ CANN- patients performed better in the test of psychomotor function, attention and verbal memory. While SZ CANN+ patients performed better in the test of working memory, visual memory and emotional recognition. We found no relationship between SZ CANN+ patients and SZ CANN- patients concerning executive function.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that cannabis use may have different effects on neurocognitive functioning. It is associated with disorders of psychomotor function, attention and verbal memory. So, it is associated with an improvement in working memory, visual memory and emotion recognition.

Keywords: Battery cognitive; Cannabis; Cognitive performance; Psychiatric disorders; Schizophrenia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Comparison of users cannabis (SZ CANN +) and non-users of cannabis (SZ CANN-) patients on measures of cognitive function.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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