Project Grant F31DA065472

IMPACT OF CANNABIS USE ON VISUAL FUNCTIONING AND VISUOSPATIAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE IN CANNABIS USERS WITH AND WITHOUT HIV - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT RATES OF HIV INFECTION AND CANNABIS USE ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY INCREASING IN THE UNITED STATES. ADDITIONALLY, PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV (PLWH) ARE SUBSTANTIALLY MORE LIKELY TO REPORT CANNABIS USE THAN THE GENERAL POPULATION. SEPARATELY, HIV AND CANNABIS USE ARE ASSOCIATED WITH DECLINES IN MULTIPLE COGNITIVE DOMAINS INCLUDING MEMORY, ATTENTION, AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS, AS WELL AS POORER VISUAL FUNCTIONS INCLUDING CONTRAST SENSITIVITY AND VISUAL ACUITY. HOWEVER, FEW STUDIES HAVE EXPLORED THE INDIVIDUAL AND COMBINED EFFECTS OF HIV AND CANNABIS USE ON GRANULAR TESTS OF VISUOSPATIAL COGNITION (I.E., OUTSIDE OF VISUAL MEMORY) OR VISUAL FUNCTIONING. GIVEN THAT SPECIFIC VISUAL ABILITIES (E.G., PERCEPTION OF ANGULAR RELATIONSHIPS, VISUAL ORGANIZATION, USEFUL FIELD OF VIEW; CONTRAST SENSITIVITY, VISUAL ACUITY) HAVE DEMONSTRABLE PREDICTABILITY REGARDING REAL-WORLD DRIVING PERFORMANCE, IT IS CRITICAL TO EXPLORE THESE FUNCTIONS IN POPULATIONS OF CANNABIS USERS WITH AND WITHOUT HIV. BEYOND RESEARCH FINDINGS, ASSESSMENT OF VISUAL FUNCTIONING AND VISUOSPATIAL COGNITION MAY BE CLINICALLY-USEFUL PREDICTORS OF TRAFFIC SAFETY IN THESE POPULATIONS. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THE PROPOSED F31 IS TO DETERMINE IF CANNABIS USE PATTERNS AND HIV DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS PREDICT POORER PERFORMANCE ON THESE TESTS, AS WELL AS ASSOCIATED EVERYDAY FUNCTIONING (E.G., DRIVING SIMULATOR PERFORMANCE). THE AIMS ARE TO 1) EXAMINE PERFORMANCE ON VISUOSPATIAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS SUGGESTED TO PREDICT DRIVING SAFETY IN CANNABIS USERS WITH AND WITHOUT HIV AND 2) EXAMINE THE IMPACT OF CANNABIS USE PATTERNS ON CONTRAST SENSITIVITY AND VISUAL ACUITY IN CANNABIS USERS WITH AND WITHOUT HIV. ADDITIONALLY, EXPLORATORY ANALYSES WILL PROBE WHETHER THE ACUTE USE OF INCREASINGLY AVAILABLE HIGH-THC CONCENTRATES PRODUCES DECREMENTS IN CONTRAST SENSITIVITY AND DRIVING SIMULATOR PERFORMANCE IN HEALTHY ADULT CONCENTRATE USERS COMPARED TO A NON-USING CONTROL GROUP, INFORMING POSSIBLE FUTURE STUDIES IN INDIVIDUALS WITH HIV. THIS PROJECT WILL UTILIZE ARCHIVAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL, VISUAL ACUITY, AND CONTRAST SENSITIVITY DATA COLLECTED FROM UC SAN DIEGO'S HIV NEUROBEHAVIORAL RESEARCH PROGRAM AND CENTER FOR MEDICINAL CANNABIS RESEARCH. CRITICALLY, THE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES PROVIDED BY THE F31 FUNDING MECHANISM WILL FACILITATE THE APPLICANT'S LONG-TERM GOAL OF BECOMING AN INDEPENDENT ACADEMIC NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST WITH A FOCUS ON ELUCIDATING REAL-WORLD AND DRIVING-RELEVANT NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL OUTCOMES ASSOCIATED WITH CANNABIS USE IN HEALTHY AND CLINICAL POPULATIONS.