COVID-19 vaccine willingness and cannabis use histories

  1. Philip A. Spechler
  2. Jennifer L. Stewart
  3. Rayus Kuplicki
  4. the Tulsa 1000 Investigators
  5. Martin P. Paulus

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Abstract

Background

Cannabis use is associated with problematic health-behaviors such as excessive alcohol and tobacco use, and sedentary behavior. Here, we examined the association between cannabis use history and an especially topical health-behavior, willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Methods

COVID-19 vaccine willingness was surveyed in a subset of participants from the Tulsa 1000 Study, which is a longitudinal study of psychiatric treatment-seeking and healthy control participants. We identified 45 participants who completed a COVID-19 vaccine questionnaire and reported more than 10 lifetime cannabis uses. Those participants were compared to a group of 45 individuals with very light (<10) cannabis use histories who were propensity score-matched on age, sex, income, and race. Two-group t -tests and Bayes factor analysis on vaccine willingness were conducted between groups. Exploratory correlation analyses were conducted on vaccine willingness and lifetime cannabis use levels within the cannabis group only.

Results

Vaccine willingness did not differ between the two groups ( t 88 =0.33, p =.74; BF 01 =4.3). However, a negative correlation was identified within the cannabis group, such that higher lifetime cannabis use histories correlated with less willingness to receive a vaccine (rho 43 = -.33, p =.03).

Conclusions

Although vaccine willingness did not differ between the two matched groups, preliminary evidence suggests that heavy lifetime cannabis use might indicate a reluctance to engage in health-promoting behaviors like receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.04.26.21256109: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsIRB: All study procedures were approved by an institutional review board, and participants provided written informed consent.
    Consent: All study procedures were approved by an institutional review board, and participants provided written informed consent.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    2.3 Follow-up Assessment: The follow-up assessment involved Remote data collection from December 28th, 2020 to January 27th, 2021 and was conducted using REDcap tools.
    REDcap
    suggested: (REDCap, RRID:SCR_003445)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Limitations of this study involve the heavy lifetime cannabis use levels within the cannabis group. Hence, it is unclear if similar effects would be found in people with intermediate cannabis use histories. Despite collecting a coarse measurement of recent cannabis use at the time of vaccine willingness questionnaire, a continuous measurement of cannabis use was only collected at baseline. Hence, this study is also limited by the time gap between measurement of those two features. Additionally, participants were not asked to elaborate on their reasons for or against becoming vaccinated, however, data collection occurred just as vaccines were becoming available and skepticism over a new vaccine may have been at its highest. Recent data from the CDC indicated that intent to become vaccinated against COVID-19 may increase with time3. Thus, it is possible that participants’ willingness may have evolved since data collection as they witnessed more people receiving a vaccine. Future studies are needed to continue to monitor COVID-19 vaccine intent and uptake, as well as infection rates, among substance users. These studies will help inform the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 within substance users, and provide insights into combatting the pandemic within vulnerable populations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: We found the following clinical trial numbers in your paper:

    IdentifierStatusTitle
    NCT02450240CompletedLatent Structure of Multi-level Assessments and Predictors o…

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a protocol registration statement.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2021.04.26.21256109v1 on medRxiv