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Cannabis use disorders may protect against certain disorders of the digestive organs in people with schizophrenia but not in healthy controls

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2019

Julie Aamand Olesen ,
Christine Merrild Posselt ,
Chalotte Heinsvig Poulsen ,
Merete Nordentoft  and
Carsten Hjorthøj Open the ORCID record for Carsten Hjorthøj [Opens in a new window]
Julie Aamand Olesen
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health - CORE, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPsych, Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark University of Copenhagen, The Research Unit for General Practice, Copenhagen, Denmark
Christine Merrild Posselt
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health - CORE, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPsych, Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark
Chalotte Heinsvig Poulsen
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health - CORE, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPsych, Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark
Merete Nordentoft
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health - CORE, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPsych, Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark
Carsten Hjorthøj*
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Research Center for Mental Health - CORE, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPsych, Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Section of Epidemiology, Copenhagen, Denmark
*
Author for correspondence: C. Hjorthøj, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Background. Previous studies have shown a potential for cannabis in disorders of the digestive organs. We aimed to investigate whether cannabis use disorders (CUD) would decrease the risk of incident disorders of the digestive organs, in people with schizophrenia and population controls.

Methods. We combined nationwide Danish registers to identify 21 066 cases with schizophrenia and 176 935 sex-and-age-matched controls. Two models were analyzed for the associations between CUD and digestive disorders in time-varying Cox regressions: one adjusted for sex, year of birth, and calendar year; and one further adjusted for alcohol and other substance use disorders and parental education.

Results. CUD was associated with a decreased risk of developing disorders of gut–brain interaction (e.g. irritable bowel syndrome, dyspepsia, etc.) among cases with schizophrenia (HR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.74–0.94, p = 0.003). CUD was associated with decreased risk of inflammatory bowel disease (HR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.49–0.99, p = 0.045) in the basically adjusted model, dropping just below statistical significance in the fully adjusted model (HR = 0.71, 95% CI 0.48–1.03, p = 0.07). CUD displayed a tendency toward a decreased risk of serious disorders of the digestive organs among cases with schizophrenia (HR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.77–1.02, p = 0.09) in the fully adjusted model. No associations were observed among controls.

Conclusions. In people with schizophrenia, but not in controls, CUD is associated with decreased risk of disorders of gut–brain interaction and inflammatory bowel disease, and possibly other serious disorders of the digestive organs. Our findings could lead to new targets for treatment and prevention of disorders of the digestive organs.

Keywords

CannabinoidsCannabisdigestive organsgastro-intestinalgut–brain axisinflammatory bowel diseasepsychosis
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , February 2020 , pp. 499 - 506
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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