New York, NY: HIV positive subjects who use cannabis exhibit similar or greater cognitive performance than do non-users, according to data published in the journal AIDS Care.
Researchers affiliated with Fordham University in New York examined the relationship between cannabis use and neurocognitive performance in 138 patients living with HIV. Among the sample, 47 participants had a history of cannabis use while 91 subjects did not.
On average, subjects with a history of cannabis consumption possessed “better processing speed, visual learning and memory, and dominant hand motor ability” compared to those with no prior history of marijuana use.
Authors concluded: Subjects’ cannabis use history “did not negatively impact neurocognition in a primarily Latinx sample of PLWH [people living with HIV]. … Findings suggest PLWH with past cannabis use have similar or better neurocognition across domains compared to PLWH without past use.”
Full text of the study, “The neurocognitive effects of past cannabis use disorder in a diverse sample of people living with HIV,” appears in AIDS Care. Additional information regarding cannabis and HIV is available from NORML.