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Abstract
Objectives: To investigate the clinical correlates of cannabis use in adolescents with first episode psychosis (FEP).
Methods: Inpatient psychiatric records provided demographic, lifetime cannabis use, family history of mental illness, and clinical data on 45 FEP adolescents, aged 12–18 years, admitted to a psychiatric unit in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, over a 2-year period.
Results: Thirty-one (68.8%) of the 45 FEP adolescents reported a history of lifetime cannabis use. The age of FEP presentation and pre-diagnosis symptom duration was not significantly different in cannabis users versus non cannabis users. Of the 15/43 (34.8%) FEP patients with family history of mental illness, 10 had a history of cannabis use. The 26 (57.8%) schizophrenia spectrum disorder patients did not differ significantly from the 19 (42.2%) with other psychoses in terms of cannabis use and family history of mental illness. They were, however, significantly younger at age of presentation and had a significantly longer duration of pre-diagnosis symptoms.
Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest a high prevalence of cannabis use in adolescents with FEP and highlight the public health concern of addressing substance abuse in the adolescent population.
