Alcohol and cannabis use and mortality in people with schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders.
- Authors
- Koola, Maju Mathew; McMahon, Robert P; Wehring, Heidi J; Liu, Fang; Mackowick, Kristen M; Warren, Kimberly R; Feldman, Stephanie; Shim, Joo-Cheol; Love, Raymond C; Kelly, Deanna L
- Year
- 2012
- Journal
- Journal of psychiatric research
- PMID
- 22595870
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.04.019
- PMCID
- PMC3392453
The impact of co-morbid substance use on mortality is not well studied in psychotic disorders. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of substance use on mortality in people with psychotic disorders and alcohol and/or drug use. We examined the rate of substance use and the risk of substance use on mortality risk over a 4-10 year period in 762 people with psychotic disorders. Deceased patients were identified from the Social Security Death Index and the Maryland Division of Vital Records. Substance use was defined as regular and heavy use or abuse or dependence. Seventy seven percent had co-morbid lifetime substance use, with co-morbid cannabis and alcohol use occurring most commonly. Out of 762 subjects, 62 died during follow up. In a Cox model, predicted mortality risk was higher in age group 35-55 compared to <35 years and in males, but reduced in cannabis users. Overall five- (3.1% vs 7.5%) and ten-year mortality risk (5.5% vs. 13.6%) was lower in cannabis users than in non-users with psychotic disorders (p = 0.005) in a survival model. Alcohol use was not predictive of mortality. We observed a lower mortality risk in cannabis-using psychotic disorder patients compared to cannabis non-users despite subjects having similar symptoms and treatments. Future research is warranted to replicate these findings and to shed light on the anti-inflammatory properties of the endocannabinoid system and its role in decreased mortality in people with psychotic disorders.
Time to death in alcohol users vs. alcohol non-users by age group. Kaplan-Meier Estimates of Cumulative Probability of All-Cause Death by Years of Follow-up, Age and Alcohol use.Log-rank test: χ2=12.7, df=3, p=0.005<35 years alcohol user N=19535–55 years alcohol user N=283<35 years alcohol non-user N=10135–55 years alcohol non-user N=183
LLM interpretation
This is a Kaplan-Meier survival plot showing the cumulative probability of all-cause mortality over 14 years of follow-up, stratified by age (<35 and 35–55 years) and alcohol use. The y-axis represents "% Mortality" and the x-axis represents "Years to Death." The data indicates higher mortality rates for the 35–55 age group compared to the <35 group, with the 35–55 non-alcohol user group showing the highest cumulative mortality. A log-rank test indicates a statistically significant difference between the groups (p=0.005).
Time to death in cannabis users vs. cannabis non-users by age group. Kaplan-Meier Estimates of Cumulative Probability of All-Cause Death by Years of Follow-up, Age and Cannabis use.Log-rank test: χ2=17.5, df=3, p=0.0006<35 years cannabis user N=15235–55 years cannabis user N=143<35 years cannabis non-user N=14435–55 years cannabis non-user N=323
LLM interpretation
This figure is a Kaplan-Meier survival plot showing the cumulative probability of all-cause mortality over 14 years, stratified by age group (<35 and 35–55 years) and cannabis use status. The x-axis represents "Years to Death" and the y-axis represents "% Mortality." The highest mortality rate is observed in the 35–55 year non-user group (dashed blue line), while the lowest is generally seen in the <35 year user group (solid red line). A log-rank test indicates a statistically significant difference between the groups (p=0.0006).
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In this knowledge base
| Title | Year | PMID |
|---|---|---|
| Comorbidity of severe psychotic disorders with measures of substance use. | 2014 | 24382686 |
External
| Title | Authors | Journal | Year | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cannabis use and suicide in people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal, case control, and cross-sectional studies. | Mulligan LD et al. | — | 2025 | → |
| Memantine for the Treatment of Primary Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. | Hong H et al. | — | 2025 | → |
| The Relationship of glutamate signaling to cannabis use and schizophrenia. | Niznikiewicz M et al. | — | 2025 | → |
| Contemporary nationwide trends in major adverse cardiovascular events in young cannabis users without concomitant tobacco, alcohol, cocaine use. | Desai R et al. | — | 2024 | → |
| Alcohol drinking in male patients with chronic schizophrenia: prevalence and its relationship to clinical symptoms. | Lv M et al. | — | 2023 | → |
| Effect of substance use on premature mortality among severely hypertensive African Americans. | Varadarajan V et al. | — | 2022 | → |
| Alpha7 nicotinic-N-methyl-D-aspartate hypothesis in the treatment of schizophrenia and beyond. | Koola MM | — | 2021 | → |
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