Background Given the high rates of cannabis use among Canadian youth and that adolescence is a critical period for cannabis use trajectories, the purpose of this paper was to examine the effect of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic period on youth cannabis use in the context of a natural experiment. We used 3-year linked data from the COMPASS study, including 7653 Canadian (Quebec, Ontario) adolescents from which 1937 completed all 3 survey waves (pre-COVID-19 [2018, 2019] and online [2020] during the early pandemic period [May–July 2020]). Structural equation modeling (SEM) and double difference (DD) models were used to estimate pre-COVID-19 to initial COVID-19 pandemic period change (2019–2020) in cannabis use (monthly, weekly, daily) compared to 2018 to 2019 change to adjust for age-related effects. Models were adjusted for age of entry into the cohort and sociodemographic characteristics. Results In the SEM and DD models, monthly, weekly, and daily cannabis use increased across all waves; however, the expected increases from the pre-COVID-19 wave (2019) to the initial COVID-19 period wave (2020) were lesser relative to the changes seen across the 2018 to 2019 waves. The cross-sectional data from May to July 2020 identified that the majority of youth who use cannabis did not report increased cannabis use due to COVID-19 or using cannabis to cope with COVID-19. Conclusion During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic period, there does not appear to be a detrimental effect on youth cannabis use, when adjusted for age-related changes. Further prospective research is needed to explore the impact of the ongoing pandemic response on youth cannabis use onset and progression.

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In Canada, the prevalence of diabetes has seen the greatest relative increase in young adulthood, where the disorder is severely pathological compared to later-onset. Still, few prognostic models have been developed to screen young adults for dysglycemia risk and boost early identification and intervention. We sought to establish predictors of dysglycemia risk among young Canadian adults (aged 18-39) and evaluate their utility in identifying high-risk individuals. The Canadian Diabetes Risk Questionnaire (CANRISK) study collected questionnaire, anthropometric, and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) data from a large, multiethnic convenience sample of Canadians over two phases. Young adults with diagnosed diabetes, missing OGTT data, or pregnant were excluded. Potential factors that modestly predicted (p<0.20) dysglycemia status (FPG≥6.1mmol/L or 2h-PG≥7.8mmol/L) were entered into a lenient stepwise function, producing a young adult-specific model; risk scores were developed from adjusted odds ratios. Discriminatory ability was assessed by optimism-corrected area under the curve (AUC) via bootstrapping and goodness-of-fit by Hosmer-Lemeshow (H-L) test and calibration plot. More than half of the 3334 participants were female (62.4%), non-white (79.2%), less than 25kg/m2 (50.7%), and reported a family history of diabetes (55.4%); based on OGTT results, 7.3% were dysglycemic. The young adult-specific model displayed an adjusted AUC of 72.9%, and reasonable goodness-of-fit (H-L p=0.49). Model performance was similar when run sex-specifically (males: unadjusted AUC of 72.1%, H-L p=0.67; females: 73.6%, p=0.67). Employing a cut-point of 22, the tool displayed high sensitivity (78.8%) but low specificity (54.0%). Only 3% of those identified as low risk by the tool were misclassified. This young adult-specific risk score shows promise to identify high-risk individuals in a multiethnic Canadian sample. Additional studies are needed to assess its generalizability to new datasets. Disclosure S.A. Srugo: None. Y. Jiang: None. H.I. Morrison: None. M.M. deGroh: None.