Examining the impact of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic period on youth cannabis use: adjusted annual changes between the pre-COVID and initial COVID-lockdown waves of the COMPASS study

BMC Public Health

Margaret deGroh¹  Ying Jiang¹  Karen A. Patte²  Scott T. Leatherdale³  Rabi Joël Gansaonré⁴  Richard E. Bélanger⁵  Slim Haddad⁶ 

[1] Applied Research Division, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Canada;Department of Health Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada;School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, ON, Canada;VITAM - Centre de recherche en santé durable, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada;VITAM - Centre de recherche en santé durable, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada;Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada;VITAM - Centre de recherche en santé durable, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada;Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada;

关键词: COVID-19;    Pandemic;    Youth;    Cannabis;    Adolescents;    Prospective;    Cohort;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-021-11241-6

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundGiven the high rates of cannabis use among Canadian youth and that adolescence is a critical period for cannabis use trajectories, the purpose of this paper was to examine the effect of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic period on youth cannabis use in the context of a natural experiment.We used 3-year linked data from the COMPASS study, including 7653 Canadian (Quebec, Ontario) adolescents from which 1937 completed all 3 survey waves (pre-COVID-19 [2018, 2019] and online [2020] during the early pandemic period [May–July 2020]). Structural equation modeling (SEM) and double difference (DD) models were used to estimate pre-COVID-19 to initial COVID-19 pandemic period change (2019–2020) in cannabis use (monthly, weekly, daily) compared to 2018 to 2019 change to adjust for age-related effects. Models were adjusted for age of entry into the cohort and sociodemographic characteristics.ResultsIn the SEM and DD models, monthly, weekly, and daily cannabis use increased across all waves; however, the expected increases from the pre-COVID-19 wave (2019) to the initial COVID-19 period wave (2020) were lesser relative to the changes seen across the 2018 to 2019 waves. The cross-sectional data from May to July 2020 identified that the majority of youth who use cannabis did not report increased cannabis use due to COVID-19 or using cannabis to cope with COVID-19.ConclusionDuring the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic period, there does not appear to be a detrimental effect on youth cannabis use, when adjusted for age-related changes. Further prospective research is needed to explore the impact of the ongoing pandemic response on youth cannabis use onset and progression.

【 授权许可】

CC BY