Zoe Szczotka
University of Miami
Co-Authors: Amrit Baral1, Bria-Necole Diggs1, Ranya Marrakchi El Fellah1, Kylee Krivijanski1, Michelle Thompson1, Girardin Jean-Louis1, Denise C Vidot1
1University of Miami
Background: Cannabis is used for sleep, but effects remain unclear. While it may aid sleep, chronic use is linked to disturbances and lower quality of life (QoL). With increasing cannabis use, understanding its impact on poor sleep and QoL is essential.
Objective: To examine poor sleep and QoL in cannabis consumers and non-consumers.
Methods: Data are from the Herbal Heart Study cohort (N=200) of 18-35 years old adults residing in South Florida. Cannabis use was urine-verified. Poor sleep was defined as difficulty falling or staying asleep reported via the Medical History Questionnaire. Quality of life (QoL) was assessed through the World Health Organization QoL Questionnaire in four domains: physical health (PH), psychological well-being (PWB), social relations (SR), and environment (ENV). Computed domain scores aligned with WHOQOL-100 standards and transformed to a 0–100 scale.
Results: Among the sample (mean age: 25.2, SD=4.8, 65.0% female, 54.5% Hispanic/Latino), 63.0% were current cannabis consumers (CCU), and 29.0% reported poor sleep. CCU (31.8%) reported poor sleep vs. 24.3% of non-consumers, though not statistically significant (p=0.26). Median QoL total score (61.7 vs 115.1, p<0.0001) and domain scores for PH (60.8 vs 115.5, p<0.0001), PWB (66.3 vs 113.2, p<0.0001), SR (77.2 vs 108.7, p=0.0004), and environment (67.9 vs 112.6, p<0.0001) were lower among those with poor sleep compared to those with no poor sleep, respectively in the overall sample. CCUs with poor sleep reported lower total QoL (-12.6 difference) PH (-14.3), PWB (-10.4), SR (-8.3), and environment (-9.4) scores than CCUs with no poor sleep. There were no differences in median QoL total score (60.1 vs 60.9; -0.8 difference) and SR median score (66.7 vs 66.7) in CCU compared to non-consumers with poor sleep, respectively. CCU with poor sleep reported lower PH (67.9 vs 75.0, -7.1 difference) than non-consumers with poor sleep.
Conclusions: Poor sleep was associated with lower QoL across all domains, regardless of cannabis use. Poor sleep was also associated with worse PH among CCUs. Research should examine long-term effects of cannabis use on sleep and QoL among emerging adults.