Abstract
Background: Despite the high prevalence of cannabis use in schizophrenia, few studies have examined the potential relationship between cannabis exposure and brain structural abnormalities in schizophrenia. Aims: To investigate prefrontal grey and white matter regions in patients experiencing a first episode of schizophrenia with an additional diagnosis of cannabis use or dependence (n=20) compared with similar patients with no cannabis use (n=31) and healthy volunteers (n=56). Method: Volumes of the superior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus and orbital frontal lobe were outlined manually from contiguous magnetic resonance images and automatically segmented into grey and white matter. Results: Patients who used cannabis had less anterior cingulate grey matter compared with both patients who did not use cannabis and healthy volunteers. Conclusions: A defect in the anterior cingulate is associated with a history of cannabis use among patients experiencing a first episode of schizophrenia and could have a role in poor decision-making and in choosing more risky outcomes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 230-236 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | British Journal of Psychiatry |
Volume | 190 |
Issue number | MAR. |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2007 |