Genetic predisposition to schizophrenia may increase risk of psychosis from cannabis use | CAMH

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April 14, 2020 and King’s College London helps shed light on both questions.

“These results are significant because they’re the first evidence we’ve seen that people genetically prone to psychosis might be disproportionately affected by cannabis,” said lead author Dr.

Using data from the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database containing participants’ in-depth genetic and health information, the authors analyzed the relationship between genetics, cannabis use and psychotic experiences across more than 100,000 people.

However, this increase was not uniform across the study group: among the fifth of participants with the highest genetic risk scores for schizophrenia, it was 60 per cent, and among the fifth with the lowest scores, it was only 40 per cent.

“This study, while limited in scope, is an important step forward in understanding how cannabis use and genetics may interact to influence psychosis risk,” added senior author Dr.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital and a world leading research centre in this field.

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