New studies show that people with a history of cannabis use in general practice records are at a much higher risk of developing mental illness such as anxiety and depression and severe mental illness.

The findings show the need for a public health approach to the management of cannabis misuse. This includes the need for general practitioners to emphasize the importance of continuing to ask questions about recreation. drag use.

The link between Use of cannabis Severe psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and psychiatric disorders are well-studied, with the use of cannabis as described in the patient’s GP record and other more common types of psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety. The relationship is not very clear.

In a new study Psychosomatic medicineResearchers at the Institute of Mental Health and the Institute of Applied Health Research at the University of Birmingham are one of the largest cohorts ever investigated, between cannabis use and mental illness health recorded in general practice. I found a strong connection.

Senior author Dr. Clara Humpston said: “Cannabis is often regarded as one of the” safer “drugs, is also promising in medical therapy, and needs to be legalized globally. Our findings suggest that the idea that cannabis is a safe drug can be misunderstood and that we need to continue to pay attention to it. “

Dr. Joht Singh Chandan said: “This study reaffirms the need to confirm that public health approaches to the use of recreational drugs continue to be adopted throughout the UK. A fair way to prevent secondary health consequences. Appropriate support measures in. “

Using primary care data extracted from the IQVIA Medical Research Database (IMRD-UK), researchers are three times more likely to develop patients in general following the first recorded use of cannabis. I found that mental health Problems such as depression and anxiety. In addition, they were almost seven times more likely to develop severe mental illnesses such as mental illness and schizophrenia.

The dataset contained records from 787 GP practice across the UK collected during the 23 years from 1995 to 2018. Researchers were able to include data from 28,218 patients with recorded cannabis exposure. These were matched with 56,208 patients who were not cannabis-free and were controlled for gender, age, ethnicity, smoking status, and other related traits.

Cannabis users also had a much higher rate of recorded use history of other drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and amphetamines.

Future research in this area will investigate the level of cannabis use or the efficacy of the ingredients.

For more information:
Keelty et al. (2021). Association of Primary Care Recorded Cannabis Use with UK Mental Illness: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study Using UK Primary Care Data. Psychosomatic medicine..