Daily associations with cannabis use and sleep quality in anxious cannabis users

INTRODUCTION

Cannabis is increasingly used to self-treat anxiety and related sleep problems, without clear evidence of either supporting or refuting its anxiolytic or sleep aid effects. In addition, different forms of cannabis and primary cannabinoids ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) have differing pharmacological effects.

METHODS

Thirty days of daily data on sleep quality and cannabis use were collected in individuals who use cannabis for mild-to-moderate anxiety (n = 347; 36% male, 64% female; mean age = 33 years). Participants self-reported both the form (flower or edible) and the ratio of THC to CBD in the cannabis used during the observation period.

RESULTS

Individuals who reported cannabis use on a particular day also reported better sleep quality the following night. Moderation analyses showed that better perceived sleep after cannabis use days was stronger for respondents with higher baseline affective symptoms. Further, respondents who used cannabis edibles with high CBD concentration reported the highest perceived quality of sleep.

CONCLUSIONS

Among individuals with affective symptoms, naturalistic use of cannabis was associated with better sleep quality, particularly for those using edible and CBD dominant products.

The influence of a 16-week exercise program, APOE status, and age on executive function task performance: A randomized trial

Previous research has shown beneficial cognitive changes following exercise training in older adults. However, the work on the potential moderating effects of Apoliprotein E (APOE) ε4 carrier status has been mixed, and the role of exercise intensity remains largely unexplored. The present study sought to examine the influence of APOE ε4 status and exercise intensity on measures of cognitive performance in a group of older adults. Cross-sectional comparisons between a group of younger inactive adults (n = 44, age = 28.86 ± 0.473 SD, 60.5% female) and a group of older inactive adults (n = 142, age = 67.8 ± 5.4, 62.7% female) were made on baseline measurements of APOE ε4 status, VO₂peak, and cognitive performance in the domain of executive functioning. The older adults also participated in a randomized controlled exercise trial, exercising three times per week for 16-weeks in either a low-intensity continuous training (LICT) group or a moderate-intensity continuous training plus interval training (MICT+IT) group at the Center for Health and Neuroscience, Genes, and Environment (CUChange) Exercise Laboratory. Follow-up measurements of VO₂peak and cognitive performance were collected on the older adults after the exercise intervention. Cross-sectional comparisons between the older and younger adults demonstrated significant impairments among older adults in Stroop effect on error and time, Category Switch mixing effects, and Keep Track task. This impairment was not moderated by APOE ε4 carrier status. Improvements from pre- to post-exercise intervention were observed in both exercise groups in Stroop effect on error ([F (1, 256) = 9.381, p < 0.01, η² = 0.031]) and Category Switch switching effect reaction time ([F(1, 274) = 4.442, p < 0.05, η² = 0.020]), with no difference between exercise groups. The moderating effects of APOE ε4 carrier status were mixed. Exercise did not improve the Stroop effect on error among ε4 carriers assigned to MICT+IT when improvements were seen in all other groups. Further research is needed to examine the mechanisms of action by which exercise impacts cognitive task performance, and possible moderators such as genetic variability and exercise intensity.

The transformation of a gold standard in-person substance use assessment to a web-based, REDCap integrated data capture tool

The adoption of computer systems for gathering, managing, and analyzing health data is resulting in the replacement of pen-and-paper methods for collecting data and managing health records by computerized methods. One classic "pen-and-paper" assessment in health and substance use research is the Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB), the gold standard in self-reported substance use developed in 1996 by Sobell et al. to assess alcohol consumption patterns and later other substances such as marijuana or tobacco over discreet timeframes [1-7]. The TLFB has been modified by some research groups for use as a web-based assessment [8-10], but not without significant limitations. As such, this paper describes the team-oriented, interdisciplinary process by which a new online TLFB (O-TLFB) was conceptualized, the technical details of development towards a dynamic data capture tool fully integrated with REDCap via application programming interface (API), and the potential for this optimized O-TLFB to be leveraged broadly across the domains of substance use, health, and behavioral research.