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Cannabis use and neuropsychological performance in healthy individuals and patients with schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2009

K. E. Scholes  and
M. T. Martin-Iverson
K. E. Scholes*
Affiliation:
Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, Graylands Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
M. T. Martin-Iverson
Affiliation:
Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, Graylands Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
*
*Address for correspondence: K. E. Scholes, Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, Post Office Private Bag No. 1, Claremont, WA, 6910, Australia. (Email: kirsty.scholes@health.wa.gov.au)
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Abstract

Background

The effects of cannabis use on neuropsychological indices that show characteristic disturbances in schizophrenia are unclear. The effect of cannabis use on these cognitive functions is of particular interest given the hypothesized association between cannabis use and schizophrenia. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of cannabis use on attentional control, working memory and executive functioning, in both healthy individuals and patients with schizophrenia.

Method

Neuropsychological performance was assessed in 36 cannabis users who were otherwise healthy, 35 healthy non-users, 22 cannabis-using patients with schizophrenia, and 49 non-using patients with schizophrenia. Participants were administered the Stroop task, the letter–number sequencing and spatial span subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST).

Results

Patients with schizophrenia (both cannabis users and non-users) showed significantly poorer performance across all neuropsychological tasks, relative to controls; however, there were no significant differences between schizophrenic cannabis users and schizophrenic non-users on any measures, with the exception of increased non-perseverative errors on the WCST in cannabis-using patients. Similarly, healthy cannabis users showed no significant differences from healthy non-users in any of the cognitive domains, with the exception of a schizophrenic-like increase in perseveration on the WCST.

Conclusions

Amongst both healthy individuals and patients with schizophrenia there appears to be little difference in cognitive performance between cannabis users and non-users, suggesting that cannabis use has only subtle effects on the neurocognitive performance indices assessed here, which have been well established to be disturbed in schizophrenia.

Keywords

Cannabiscognitionpsychosisschizophrenia
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 40 , Issue 10 , October 2010 , pp. 1635 - 1646
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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