The following is a summary of “Cannabis use disorder contributes to cognitive dysfunction in Veterans with traumatic brain injury,” published in the January 2024 issue of Neurology by Esmaeili et al.
Researchers launched a retrospective study to untangle the intricate relationship between traumatic brain injury (TBI), cannabis use disorder (CUD), and cognitive decline in Veterans.
They utilized administrative data from the US Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense, focusing on the Long-term Impact of Military-Relevant Brain Injury Consortium-Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium Phenotype. Diagnosis indicating cognitive disorders post-TBI were identified through (2003 to 2022) inpatient and outpatient data. Mental disorders incidence among Veterans was compared using Kaplan-Meier analyses, considering no CUD or TBI (control group), CUD only, TBI only, and comorbid CUD+TBI. Cox models assessed cognitive disorder HRs in study groups, considering both crude and adjusted analyses.
The results showed 1,560,556 Veterans, with 82.32% being male and a median (IQR) age of 34.51 (11.29) years at the time of TBI, with 61.35% being white. Cognitive disorder incidence rates were 0.68 (95% CI, 0.62, 0.75) for CUD only and 1.03 (95% CI, 1.00, 1.06) for TBI only per 10,000 person-months of observations. The highest incidence occurred in participants with both TBI and CUD, estimated at 1.83 (95% CI, 1.72, 1.95). Compared to the control group, the highest hazard of cognitive disorders was observed in Veterans with CUD+TBI (HR, 3.26; 95% CI, 2.91, 3.65], followed by those with TBI only (2.32; 95% CI, 2.13, 2.53) and CUD (1.79; 95% CI, 1.60, 2.00).In the CUD-only subgroup, the highest risk of early-onset cognitive disorders, excluding Alzheimer’s disease and Frontotemporal dementia, was noted.
They concluded that veterans with TBI and CUD showed a higher risk of early dementia, suggesting a possible link.
Source: frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2024.1261249/full