A recently published study looked at the associations between past and present cannabis use and current cognitive abilities among dementia-free older adults, with some encouraging results.
Older adults have been increasingly using cannabis for chronic health conditions and/or recreationally thanks to laws loosening in many countries. In the USA, the proportion of adults aged 65 years or older using it has more than quadrupled in the last 20 years.
Some seniors have been using cannabis for a very long time. So, what sort of impact is it having on their cognitive function?
In a new UK study of tens of thousands of seniors aged ≥60 years, cannabis use patterns were analysed, and cognitive function was assessed. The areas tested were attention, executive function, processing speed, visual memory and working memory.
The researchers found lifetime cannabis users (17%) performed better across all the cognitive domains mentioned above. Current use was also associated with better working memory, and there were mixed and contradictory results found for early onset, duration and frequency of use with cognitive outcomes.
“Longitudinally, past use was associated with less decline in executive function, while longer duration of use predicted steeper decline in processing speed,” state the researchers.
They concluded:
“Cannabis use is not uniformly harmful to cognition in older adults. Past use was linked to better performance and slower decline in some cognitive domains. However, specific usage patterns, such as longer duration, were associated with poorer outcomes in other domains.”
And, as always, they highlighted need for further research.
The full study has been published in the journal Age and Ageing.
There have been quite a few studies published over the last couple of years concerning seniors and cannabis use.
While most suggest it can be useful for improving general well-being, there have also been warnings about seniors increasingly finding themselves in hospital emergency departments.
Another significant point of concern is “driving high”, with one study finding 20.1 % of seniors driving after cannabis use (DCU) within 2 hours of consumption — which depending on what was consumed could be well within an impairment window.
