Report for: Persistent cannabis users show neuropsychological decline from childhood to midlife

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Title	Persistent cannabis users show neuropsychological decline from childhood to midlife
Published in	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, August 2012
DOI	10.1073/pnas.1206820109
Pubmed ID	22927402
Authors	Madeline H. Meier, Avshalom Caspi, Antony Ambler, HonaLee Harrington, Renate Houts, Richard S. E. Keefe, Kay McDonald, Aimee Ward, Richie Poulton, Terrie E. Moffitt
Abstract	Recent reports show that fewer adolescents believe that regular cannabis use is harmful to health. Concomitantly, adolescents are initiating cannabis use at younger ages, and more adolescents are using cannabis on a daily basis. The purpose of the present study was to test the association between persistent cannabis use and neuropsychological decline and determine whether decline is concentrated among adolescent-onset cannabis users. Participants were members of the Dunedin Study, a prospective study of a birth cohort of 1,037 individuals followed from birth (1972/1973) to age 38 y. Cannabis use was ascertained in interviews at ages 18, 21, 26, 32, and 38 y. Neuropsychological testing was conducted at age 13 y, before initiation of cannabis use, and again at age 38 y, after a pattern of persistent cannabis use had developed. Persistent cannabis use was associated with neuropsychological decline broadly across domains of functioning, even after controlling for years of education. Informants also reported noticing more cognitive problems for persistent cannabis users. Impairment was concentrated among adolescent-onset cannabis users, with more persistent use associated with greater decline. Further, cessation of cannabis use did not fully restore neuropsychological functioning among adolescent-onset cannabis users. Findings are suggestive of a neurotoxic effect of cannabis on the adolescent brain and highlight the importance of prevention and policy efforts targeting adolescents.

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Twitter Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 1,164 tweeters who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.

Geographical breakdown

Country	Count	As %
United States	209	18%
United Kingdom	94	8%
Chile	53	5%
Canada	37	3%
Mexico	36	3%
Argentina	25	2%
Brazil	18	2%
Spain	18	2%
France	16	1%
Other	169	15%
Unknown	489	42%

Demographic breakdown

Type	Count	As %
Members of the public	1032	89%
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals)	57	5%
Scientists	49	4%
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors)	25	2%
Unknown	1	<1%

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 1,635 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country	Count	As %
United States	34	2%
United Kingdom	9	<1%
Germany	7	<1%
Netherlands	5	<1%
Brazil	5	<1%
Spain	4	<1%
Chile	3	<1%
France	3	<1%
Canada	3	<1%
Other	21	1%
Unknown	1541	94%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status	Count	As %
Student > Bachelor	272	17%
Researcher	244	15%
Student > Ph. D. Student	226	14%
Student > Master	201	12%
Other	111	7%
Other	354	22%
Unknown	227	14%

Readers by discipline	Count	As %
Psychology	384	23%
Medicine and Dentistry	308	19%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences	178	11%
Social Sciences	102	6%
Neuroscience	87	5%
Other	286	17%
Unknown	290	18%

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3074. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 24 January 2023.

All research outputs

#1,802

of 23,018,998 outputs

Outputs from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

#57

of 98,675 outputs

Outputs of similar age

of 170,402 outputs

Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

of 982 outputs

Altmetric has tracked 23,018,998 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.

So far Altmetric has tracked 98,675 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 37.1. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.

Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 170,402 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.

We're also able to compare this research output to 982 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.

Persistent cannabis users show neuropsychological decline from childhood to midlife

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Attention Score in Context