ABSTRACT
Background: Cannabis use among young people in Chile has increased significantly in the last years. There is a consistent link between cannabis and psychosis. Aim: To compare cannabis use in patients with a first episode of psychosis and healthy controls. Material and Methods: We included 74 patients aged 20 ± 3 years (78% males) admitted to hospital with a first episode of psychosis and a group of 60 healthy controls aged 23 ± 4 years (63% males). Cannabis consumption was assessed, including age of first time use and length of regular use. Results: Patients with psychosis reported a non-significantly higher frequency of life-time cannabis use. Patients had longer periods of regular cannabis use compared with healthy subjects (Odds ratio [OR] 2.4; 95% confi-dence intervals [CI] 1.14-5.05). Patients also used cannabis for the first time at an earlier age (16 compared with 17 years, p < 0.0). The population attributable fraction for regular cannabis use associated with hospital admissions due to psychosis was 17.7% (95% CI 1.2-45.5%). Conclusions: Cannabis use is related to psychosis in this Chilean group of patients. This relationship is stronger in patients with early exposure to the drug and longer the regular use. One of every five admissions due to psychosis is associated with cannabis consumption. These data should influence cannabis legisla-tion and the public policies currently being discussed in Chile.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Young Adult , Psychotic Disorders , Cannabis , Psychotic Disorders/epidemiology , Case-Control Studies , Chile/epidemiology , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
Después de varias décadas de desarrollo de los fármacos antipsicóticos, la esquizofrenia sigue siendo en gran medida una enfermedad crónica con muchos pacientes que experimentan una mala calidad de vida. En este contexto, la aparición de los llamados antipsicóticos de segunda generación fue recibida con gran entusiasmo. Los clínicos esperaban que los nuevos antipsicóticos causaran no solamente menos efectos secundarios motores que los más antiguos, tal como la clorpromazina, sino también que mejoraran los síntomas y la funcionalidad general de los pacientes. Este artículo, de carácter narrativo, revisa cómo inicialmente la evidencia de un gran número de ensayos controlados aleatorios pareció favorecer muchas de estas suposiciones. Esta visión, sin embargo, no era universal, y algunos investigadores destacaron el potencial efecto del diseño de los estudios en los resultados. Un aspecto importante dice relación con la dosis utilizada de antipsicóticos de primera generación, siendo aquellos ensayos que usaron mayores dosis los que apoyaron el uso de antipsicóticos de segunda generación. Esta controversia se resolvió después de la publicación de tres estudios a gran escala, que incluían pacientes menos seleccionados y que enfocaban los resultados a largo plazo en un entorno clínico más "típico", los cuales no encontraron diferencias significativas entre los dos tipos de antipsicóticos. Desde entonces, las discusiones sobre la elección de los antipsicóticos han girado en torno a otros factores tales como los efectos secundarios, más que en su capacidad para controlar los síntomas.(AU)
After several decades of antipsychotic medication development, schizophrenia has largely remained a chronic disease with many patients experiencing poor quality of life. In this context, the appearance of so-called second generation antipsychotics was received with great enthusiasm. Clinicians hoped that the new antipsychotics would not only cause less motor side effects than older ones such as Chlorpromazine, but also improve patients' symptoms and overall functioning. In this narrative article we review how initially the vidence of a large number of randomized controlled trials appeared to favour many of these claims. This view was not universal though, and some researchers highlighted the potential effect of some design aspects of the trials in the results. A particular concern related to the dose of first generation antipsychotic used, with trials favouring second generation frequently using higher doses. This controversy was resolved after the publication of three large studies, including less selected patients and looking at longer-term outcomes in a more "typical" clinical setting, which failed to find significant differences between the two types of antipsychotics. Since then, discussions about the choice of antipsychotic revolve more around other factors such as side-effects than their capacity to control symptom.(AU)