Abstract
Background
The effects of cannabis use in vulnerable persons with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, continues to be elucidated.
Methods
We compared 55 cannabis-only users (Group 1) with 462 non-substance users (Group 2) on measures of length of stay and number of psychiatric hospitalizations with a primary discharge diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney non-parametric test for non-normal distributions, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Poisson regression analysis.
Results
Group 1 had a mean length of stay of 6.15 days (sd = 5.32 days) and Group 2 had a mean length of stay of 8.66 days (sd = 11.14 days) (i.e. Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney, p = .0347; log-transformed ANOVA, p = .0203). This difference was no longer statistically significant when controlling for three covariates (p = .1543). Poisson regressions for the mean number of admissions (1.84) were not statistically significant.
Conclusions
Cannabis use may not be a good predictor of length of stay, once covariates are considered, and mean number of hospitalizations in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the Department of Psychiatry, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, for their support of this research.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts or declarations of interest pertaining to this research.
Funding
No funding was received for this study.