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Annals of General Psychiatry
Published in: Annals of General Psychiatry 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Primary research

A clinical comparison of schizophrenia with and without pre-onset cannabis use disorder: a retrospective cohort study using categorical and dimensional approaches

Authors: Samuel Sarrazin, Florence Louppe, Raphael Doukhan, Franck Schürhoff

Published in: Annals of General Psychiatry | Issue 1/2015

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Abstract

Background

A high prevalence of cannabis use disorder has been reported in subjects suffering from schizophrenia, fuelling intense debate about whether schizophrenia with pre-onset cannabis use disorder may be a distinct entity with specific features or whether cannabis use disorder can precipitate schizophrenia in genetically vulnerable subjects.

Methods

We retrospectively assessed schizophrenia subjects with and without pre-onset cannabis use disorder on the basis of their clinical features, assessed categorically and dimensionally with the operational criteria checklist for psychotic illnesses (OCCPI). We also investigated whether the two groups could be differentiated on the basis of a history of psychiatric disorders in first-degree relatives. A principal component factor analysis of the OCCPI items was used to identify specific symptom dimensions. The relationships between symptom dimensions and cannabis status were analysed by point-biserial correlation analysis to control for sex and age at time of the assessment and illness duration.

Results

One hundred and seventy-one subjects with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were included. Among them, forty-one patients (18.2 % of the sample) had a cannabis use disorder before or at the time of the onset of schizophrenia. We found similar results in symptoms patterns or family history between patients with and without pre-onset cannabis use disorder.

Conclusions

Our results clearly argue against cannabis-associated schizophrenia being a relevant distinct clinical entity of schizophrenia with specific features.
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Metadata
Title
A clinical comparison of schizophrenia with and without pre-onset cannabis use disorder: a retrospective cohort study using categorical and dimensional approaches
Authors
Samuel Sarrazin
Florence Louppe
Raphael Doukhan
Franck Schürhoff
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Annals of General Psychiatry / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1744-859X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-015-0083-x

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