Translational Psychiatry (May 2022)
Bayesian causal network modeling suggests adolescent cannabis use accelerates prefrontal cortical thinning
- Max M. Owens,
- Matthew D. Albaugh,
- Nicholas Allgaier,
- Dekang Yuan,
- Gabriel Robert,
- Renata B. Cupertino,
- Philip A. Spechler,
- Anthony Juliano,
- Sage Hahn,
- Tobias Banaschewski,
- Arun L. W. Bokde,
- Sylvane Desrivières,
- Herta Flor,
- Antoine Grigis,
- Penny Gowland,
- Andreas Heinz,
- Rüdiger Brühl,
- Jean-Luc Martinot,
- Marie-Laure Paillère Martinot,
- Eric Artiges,
- Frauke Nees,
- Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos,
- Herve Lemaitre,
- Tomáš Paus,
- Luise Poustka,
- Sabina Millenet,
- Juliane H. Fröhner,
- Michael N. Smolka,
- Henrik Walter,
- Robert Whelan,
- Scott Mackey,
- Gunter Schumann,
- Hugh Garavan,
- The IMAGEN Consortium
Affiliations
- Max M. Owens
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
- Matthew D. Albaugh
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
- Nicholas Allgaier
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
- Dekang Yuan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
- Gabriel Robert
- Psychiatry Department, University of Rennes 1
- Renata B. Cupertino
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
- Philip A. Spechler
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research
- Anthony Juliano
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
- Sage Hahn
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
- Tobias Banaschewski
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University
- Arun L. W. Bokde
- Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin
- Sylvane Desrivières
- Centre for Population Neuroscience and Precision Medicine (PONS), Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, SGDP Centre, King’s College London
- Herta Flor
- Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University
- Antoine Grigis
- NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay
- Penny Gowland
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park
- Andreas Heinz
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Campus Charité Mitte, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin & Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
- Rüdiger Brühl
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig and Berlin
- Jean-Luc Martinot
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM U A10 “Trajectoires développementales en psychiatrie”; Université Paris-Saclay, Ecole Normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Centre Borelli
- Marie-Laure Paillère Martinot
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherce Médicale, INSERM U A10 “Trajectoires développementales & psychiatrie”, University Paris-Saclay, Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS; Centre Borelli
- Eric Artiges
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM U1299 “Trajectoires développementales en psychiatrie”; Ecole Normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, Université Paris-Saclay, Université de Paris, Centre Borelli; Gif-sur-Yvette, & Department of Psychiatry, EPS Barthélémy Durand
- Frauke Nees
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University
- Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos
- NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay
- Herve Lemaitre
- NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay
- Tomáš Paus
- Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine, University of Montreal
- Luise Poustka
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Göttingen
- Sabina Millenet
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University
- Juliane H. Fröhner
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden
- Michael N. Smolka
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden
- Henrik Walter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Campus Charité Mitte, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin & Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
- Robert Whelan
- School of Psychology and Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin
- Scott Mackey
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
- Gunter Schumann
- Centre for Population Neuroscience and Stratified Medicine (PONS), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Hugh Garavan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
- The IMAGEN Consortium
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-01956-4
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 12,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 9
Abstract
Abstract While there is substantial evidence that cannabis use is associated with differences in human brain development, most of this evidence is correlational in nature. Bayesian causal network (BCN) modeling attempts to identify probable causal relationships in correlational data using conditional probabilities to estimate directional associations between a set of interrelated variables. In this study, we employed BCN modeling in 637 adolescents from the IMAGEN study who were cannabis naïve at age 14 to provide evidence that the accelerated prefrontal cortical thinning found previously in adolescent cannabis users by Albaugh et al. [1] is a result of cannabis use causally affecting neurodevelopment. BCNs incorporated data on cannabis use, prefrontal cortical thickness, and other factors related to both brain development and cannabis use, including demographics, psychopathology, childhood adversity, and other substance use. All BCN algorithms strongly suggested a directional relationship from adolescent cannabis use to accelerated cortical thinning. While BCN modeling alone does not prove a causal relationship, these results are consistent with a body of animal and human research suggesting that adolescent cannabis use adversely affects brain development.
