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. 1993 Jul;88(1):21-4.
doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1993.tb03408.x.

Cannabis and schizophrenia: a longitudinal study of cases treated in Stockholm County

P Allebeck  1 , C Adamsson, A Engström, U Rydberg
Affiliations

Cannabis and schizophrenia: a longitudinal study of cases treated in Stockholm County

P Allebeck et al. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1993 Jul.

Erratum in

  • Acta Psychiatr Scand 1993 Oct;88(4):304

Abstract

By means of the Stockholm County inpatient care register we identified all cases treated with a diagnosis of cannabis dependence and psychosis, not necessarily at the same occasion, during 1971-1983. By scrutinizing medical records, we evaluated the diagnosis according to DSM-III-R and we assessed the history of substance abuse as well as the psychiatric history and clinical course. We identified 229 cases during the follow-up; 112 of these cases (49%) fulfilled the DSM-III-R criteria for schizophrenia. The majority of the schizophrenics had prominent positive symptoms and a sudden onset of disease, and 69% of the cases had a record of heavy cannabis abuse at least 1 year before onset of psychotic symptoms. The high number of verified DSM-III-R cases of schizophrenia in this cohort and the temporal relation between cannabis abuse and schizophrenia further support the hypothesis that cannabis abuse may be a risk factor for schizophrenia. We confirmed previous observations that cannabis-associated schizophrenia often has a sudden onset and prominent positive symptoms.

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