Study Finds Smoking Even a Drop of Marijuana Increases Risk of Two Deadly Health Conditions

Marijuana is becoming more and more accepted in society, While tobacco consumption declines among adults, cannabis consumption increases . Something that worries health experts since various studies have pointed out the risks associated with the drug.

A new study indicates that Smoking, vaping or eating cannabis is associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke . This association was observed even after controlling for smoking and other cardiovascular risk factors.

“Our study shows that smoking cannabis presents significant cardiovascular risks , just like smoking tobacco. “This is particularly important as cannabis use is increasing and conventional tobacco use is decreasing,” he said in a statement. release The study’s lead author, Abra Jeffers, a data analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who studies tobacco and smoking cessation.

According to latest study (2020) from the National Service for the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Drug and Alcohol Consumption (Senda), 38.2% of Chileans report having used marijuana at some point in their lives.

In the USA Cannabis use has increased significantly in recent decades, according to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The annual survey found that in the same year, 48.2 million people aged 12 and older reported using cannabis at least once, compared to 25.8 million people in 2002, an increase of 11%. at 17%.

He study published in the Journal of the American Heart Associationused data from 2016 to 2020 from nearly 435,000 U.S. adults to examine the association between cannabis use and adverse cardiovascular outcomes, including heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke.

Among his results, he discovered that Daily and non-daily cannabis users had a higher risk of heart attack than non-users. Daily cannabis users – primarily smoked – were associated with a 25% increase in the likelihood of having a heart attack and a 42% increase in the likelihood of having a stroke (stroke), compared to non- drug use. The risk increased as the number of days of marijuana use increased.

He Less frequent drinking was also associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular events. Weekly consumers showed a 3% increase in the likelihood of having a heart attack and a 5% increase in the likelihood of having a stroke.

This trend was still evident even when the researchers controlled for other cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, BMI, physical activity and type 2 diabetes. In fact, a separate analysis of adults who had never smoked tobacco or used e-cigarettes with nicotine also showed a significant association between cannabis use and increased risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

Among the participants, Nearly 90% of adults did not use marijuana at all. 7% consumed it less than once a day and 4% said they consumed it daily. Researchers found that about 29% of daily marijuana users and 45% of non-daily users had never smoked tobacco.

“Our sample was large enough to be able to study the association between cannabis use and cardiovascular problems in adults who had never used tobacco cigarettes or e-cigarettes,” Jeffers noted in one study. release . “Cannabis smoke is not that different from tobacco smoke, except for the psychoactive drug: THC versus nicotine. »

“We know that when cannabis is burned, toxins are released, similar to those found in tobacco smoke. “, » said Jeffers. “We have long known that smoking is linked to heart disease, and this study proves that smoking cannabis also appears to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States.”

Researchers assessed the association between smoking cannabis (the number of days participants reported smoking the drug in the past 30 days) and self-reported cardiovascular outcomes, including coronary heart disease, heart attacks , stroke, and a composite measure of all three. They adjusted for participants’ tobacco use and other characteristics, including their age, gender, race, body mass index or BMI, obesity, diabetes, physical activity level and socio-economic status. economic.

Survey data were collected through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a national cross-sectional survey conducted annually by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study has several limitations, including the fact that cardiovascular disease and cannabis use were self-reported, making them potentially subject to recall bias (possible memory errors).

Additionally, the authors did not have health data measuring participants’ baseline lipid profile or blood pressure, and the study captured data at a single time point for participants. The authors note that there is a need for prospective cohort studies (studies that follow groups of individuals over time) to examine the association between cannabis use and cardiovascular outcomes, while taking into account the frequency of cannabis use.

“The results of this study have very important implications for population health and should serve as a call to action for all professionals, as this study adds to the growing literature that cannabis use and disease cardiovascular conditions can be a potentially dangerous combination.” Robert L. Page II, professor of clinical pharmacy, medicine and physical medicine at the University of Colorado, who was not involved in the study, said in a statement.