Home »  News  »  Cognitive decline in multiple sclerosis

Cognitive decline in multiple sclerosis

Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who smoke marijuana show impaired thinking compared with patients who don’t.

Advertisement
Patients with multiple sclerosis who smoke marijuana show impaired thinking compared with patients who don't.Marijuana, also known as cannabis and ganja, is also a drug used for medicinal purposes. It's sales and possession is illegal in many parts of the world.To investigate the emotional and cognitive effects of cannabis use in patients with MS, researchers from Canada studied 140 patients suffering from MS, 10 of whom were users of cannabis. On an average, cannabis users were 9 years younger than the non-users. Each user of cannabis was matched by age, demographics and disease characteristics to four patients who did not use cannabis. The participants were made to undergo clinical trials and complete intellectual tests to assess cognition, working memory and sustained attention.It was found that the proportion of patients who met the diagnostic criteria for a psychiatric condition were higher in the cannabis group. In addition, on a number of intellectual tests, cannabis users were slower than non-users.People with multiple sclerosis already suffer from slowness of thought, memory disturbances and psychological disturbances, which in extreme cases can also lead to suicidal tendencies. The above findings suggest that the use of cannabis can further deteriorate the mental capabilities of MS patients. However, future studies are required to clarify this relationship.
Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine
July 2008

DoctorNDTV is the one stop site for all your health needs providing the most credible health information, health news and tips with expert advice on healthy living, diet plans, informative videos etc. You can get the most relevant and accurate info you need about health problems like diabetes, cancer, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, weight loss and many other lifestyle diseases. We have a panel of over 350 experts who help us develop content by giving their valuable inputs and bringing to us the latest in the world of healthcare.

Advertisement