The association of specific traumatic experiences with cannabis initiation and transition to problem use: Differences between African-American and European-American women

INTRODUCTION

To examine the contribution of trauma exposure to cannabis initiation and transition to first cannabis use disorder (CUD) symptom in African-American (AA) and European-American (EA) emerging adults.

METHODS

Data are from the Missouri Adolescent Female Twins Study [(N=3787); 14.6% AA; mean age=21.7 (SD 3.8)]. Trauma exposures (e.g. sexual abuse, physical abuse, witnessing another person being killed or injured, experiencing an accident, and experiencing a disaster) were modeled as time-varying predictors of cannabis initiation and transition to CUD symptom using Cox proportional hazards regression. Other substance involvement and psychiatric disorders were considered as time-varying covariates.

RESULTS

Analyses revealed different trauma-related and psychiatric predictors for cannabis use supporting racially distinct etiologic models of cannabis involvement. For AA women, history of witnessing injury/death or experiencing a life-threatening accident was associated with cannabis initiation across the complete emerging adult risk period while sexual abuse predicted cannabis initiation only before 15 years old. For EA women, history of sexual or physical abuse and major depressive disorder (MDD) predicted cannabis initiation and physical abuse and MDD predicted transition from initiation to first CUD symptom. No association was discovered between trauma exposures and transition to first CUD symptom in AA women.

CONCLUSIONS

Results reveal trauma exposures as important contributors to cannabis initiation and to a lesser extent transition to CUD symptom, with different trauma types conferring risk for cannabis involvement in AA and EA women. Findings suggest the importance of considering racial/ethnic differences when developing etiologic models of cannabis involvement.

Male sex and vascular risk factors affect cystatin C-derived renal function in older people without diabetes or overt vascular disease

Background/objectives: to explore the effect of ageing on renal function with cystatin C as the marker of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in the general population without vascular disease or diabetes.

Design: a cross-sectional analysis of a healthy subset from the Good Aging in Skåne-cohort study representative of the Swedish general population.

Subjects: 1252 participants without vascular disease and diabetes (43.9% men) of whom 203 were over 80 years old were included from the original cohort of 2931.

Methods: plasma cystatin C and plasma creatinine were used as markers for GFR. Estimated GFR (eGFR) was calculated with three chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration (CKD-EPI) formulas involving cystatin C, creatinine or both.

Results: the median for plasma cystatin C was 0.93 mg/l (60–69 years old), 1.04 (70–79 years old) and 1.24 (80+ years old). The difference in mg/l between the 5th and 95th percentile was 0.46, 0.62 and 0.90 for these age groups. Male sex increased the age effect on plasma cystatin C levels with 0.004 mg/l/year (P = 0.03), adjusted for vascular risk factors. Smoking, lower HDL and higher diastolic blood pressure were associated with higher cystatin C levels. 54.7% (CKD-EPI creatinine) to 73.9% (CKD-EPI cystatin C) of the 80+ had an eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m².

Conclusion: non-diabetics without overt vascular disease exhibit an age related but heterogeneous decline in renal function. The ageing effect is more pronounced in men. At least half of healthy 80+ years old could be expected to have at least CKD Stage 3 with eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m².