Association between cannabis use and result of COVID-19 testing among scholarised adolescents in Andalusia: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aims The COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted cannabis use among the adolescent population. Therefore, it is important to understand the potential factors linking cannabis use to COVID-19 and vice versa, as well as the consumption patterns following the onset of COVID-19. Methods This study conducted in Andalusia, Spain. Although, 1,051 adolescents aged 14–18 years were included in this cross-sectional study, of these, the 89 (8.5%) reported testing positive for COVID-19, who were the main target for our analyses. Sociodemographic, psychological, and cannabis use variables, as well as COVID-19 testing positive, isolation and some perceptions about cannabis and COVID-19 were analysed. A binary logistic regression, was conducted to examine the association between COVID-19-related factors and controlled for sociodemographic and psychological variables, assessed estimations with cannabis use. Results Adolescents testing positive for COVID-19 are almost 2.89 times more likely to have used cannabis in the last month. Additionally, number of isolations was higher among cannabis users and positive testing. Cannabis users showed a lack of perceived risk that cannabis use could exacerbate COVID-19 and that cannabis’ smoke could spread COVID-19. Sharing cannabis among adolescents during the pandemic may increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Conclusions Informing whether adolescents who use cannabis may be more likely to test positive for COVID-19 can contribute to a better understanding of substance use patterns during a public health emergency. However, given the exploratory and cross-sectional nature of this study, as well as its limited and context-specific sample, the findings should be interpreted with caution. Despite this, we believe that this research may inform future studies exploring the impact of cannabis use among adolescents during public emergency situations in larger samples and other contexts.