“The reason I think this study is so good is because it looked at all the different aspects of cannabis use. The fact that we included all three contributed greatly to the study. Because I don’t believe such research has been done before,” Professor Wong told Neuroscience News.
Other research surrounding cannabis often focuses on young adults and their cognitive scores after cannabis use, and the differing results suggest that new research suggests that age at cannabis use may be a mitigating factor in terms of cannabis' cognitive protective role. can be shown. Scores of middle-aged adults.
“The most important thing is that cannabis can protect our cognition,” Wong also told Neuroscience News. He later continued: “We don’t know whether non-medical cannabis leads to better cognition or whether people with better cognition have better cognition and are more likely to use non-medical cannabis.”
Because of the study's limitations, Wong said more long-term studies are needed to determine how the effects of cannabis use play out over time. “It’s really important to do longitudinal studies because this is just a snapshot of 2021,” he told Neuroscience News.
SCD and Dementia Risk
Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is a self-report measure of memory loss or confusion and is a form of cognitive impairment. This serves as one of the earliest and most visible signs of Alzheimer's disease and dementia-related diseases.
Having SCD in adulthood does not necessarily mean that a person will develop Alzheimer's disease or other dementia-related diseases. However, studies have shown that it is associated with increased incidence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia due to Alzheimer's disease, and Alzheimer's disease biomarkers.