<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
TUESDAY, Aug. 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Individuals with depression are at a higher risk for cannabis use, with use significantly increased since 2005, according to a study published online Aug. 18 in JAMA Network Open<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Lauren R. Gorfinkel, M.P.H., from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues examined the association between depression and past-month cannabis use among U.S. adults in a repeated cross-sectional study using data from 16,216 adults aged 20 to 59 years who were surveyed by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2005 and 2016.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that compared with those without depression, individuals with depression had 1.90 times the odds of any past-month cannabis use (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.62 to 2.24) and 2.29 times the odds of daily or near-daily cannabis use (95 percent CI, 1.80 to 2.92). From 2005 to 2016, the association between cannabis use and depression increased significantly. The odds ratio for depression and any past-month cannabis use increased from 1.46 (95 percent CI, 1.07 to 1.99) to 2.30 (95 percent CI, 1.82 to 2.91) from 2005-2006 to 2015-2016; during the same period, the odds ratios for depression and daily or near-daily past-month cannabis use increased from 1.37 (95 percent CI, 0.81 to 2.32) to 3.16 (95 percent CI, 2.23 to 4.48).<\/p>\n
“While further research to understand the mechanisms underlying the increasingly strong association of depression and frequent cannabis use is needed, the study findings highlight a current need for information campaigns around cannabis and depressive disorders,” the authors write.<\/p>\n