@article{Vacaflor_Beauchet_Jarvis_Schiavetto_Rej_2020, place={Markham, Canada}, title={Mental Health and Cognition in Older Cannabis Users: a Review}, volume={23}, url={https://cgjonline.ca/index.php/cgj/article/view/399}, DOI={10.5770/cgj.23.399}, abstractNote={<p class="Default" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; line-height: 11.05pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Background </span></strong></p> <p class="Pa2" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; color: black;">The impact of cannabis use on mental health and cognition in older adults remains unclear. With the recent legalization of cannabis in Canada, physicians will need up-to-date infor­mation about the mental and cognitive effects of cannabis use in this specific population. </span></p> <p class="Pa3" style="margin: 9.0pt 0in 3.0pt 0in;"><strong><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black;">Method </span></strong></p> <p class="Pa2" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; color: black;">A narrative review was conducted to summarize the literature on mental health and cognitive effects of cannabis use in older adults using Medline (OvidSP). </span></p> <p class="Pa3" style="margin: 9.0pt 0in 3.0pt 0in;"><strong><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black;">Results </span></strong></p> <p class="Pa2" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; color: black;">A total of 16 studies were identified, including nine cross-sectional studies on mental health comorbidities reported by older cannabis users. The self-reported prevalence of mental and substance use disorders is approximately two to three times higher in older adults who report past-year cannabis use, compared to older adults who report using more than one year ago or never using. The remaining seven clinical trials found that short-term, low-dose medical cannabis was generally well-tolerated in older adults without prior serious mental illness. However, mental/cognitive adverse effects were not systematically assessed. </span></p> <p class="Pa3" style="margin: 9.0pt 0in 3.0pt 0in;"><strong><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black;">Conclusion </span></strong></p> <p class="Default"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Although preliminary findings suggests that low-dose, short-term medical cannabis does not carry significant risk of serious mental health and cognitive adverse effects in older adults without prior psychiatric history, epidemiological studies find a correlation between past-year cannabis use and poor mental health outcomes in community-dwelling older adults. These findings may indicate that longer term cannabis use in this population is detrimental to their mental health, al­though a direct causal link has not been established. Larger, longitudinal studies on the safety of medical cannabis in older adults are needed.</span></p>}, number={3}, journal={Canadian Geriatrics Journal}, author={Vacaflor, Blanca E. and Beauchet, Olivier and Jarvis, G. Eric and Schiavetto, Alessandra and Rej, Soham}, year={2020}, month={Sep.}, pages={237–244} }