Heavy Cannabis Use Linked to Increased Risk of Heart Problems in Canadian Study

New study finds people diagnosed with ‘cannabis use disorder’ are about 60% more likely to experience certain heart conditions than adults of the same age and gender without the same diagnosis did.

This research Dependence The study was conducted Wednesday in Alberta, Canada, using medical data from just under 60,000 adults. Paired diagnosis codes for cannabis use disorder, defined as an individual who is unable to stop using cannabis on their own despite experiencing adverse life events, including heart attack, heart disease, etc. Comparisons were made to diagnostic codes for a variety of cardiovascular problems, including but not limited to: Breakdowns and strokes that occurred during the study period (January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2019).

“Canadian adults with a cannabis use disorder appear to have an approximately 60 per cent increased risk of experiencing adverse cardiovascular events compared to adults without a cannabis use disorder,” the study said. “Importantly, this evidence suggests that cannabis use may increase the risk of serious cardiovascular events in healthier people. It points to the importance of educating patients about the potential risks associated with use and cannabis use disorder.”

The study also found that, based on available data, healthy people diagnosed with cannabis use disorder actually appear to be at increased risk for these cardiovascular events. “Healthy” in this case means that you have not been diagnosed with a co-occurring mental illness, have not seen a doctor in the past 6 months, have not been prescribed medication, and have no other medical conditions. It means you are not sick.

The lead author of the study said: forbes This data does not necessarily show a direct relationship between heavy cannabis use and heart disease, but more research needs to be done in this area to be sure. When analyzing large data sets, it is difficult to control for all factors, especially when dealing with things like cannabis use that are often not disclosed to doctors.

“It is important to emphasize that these findings are observational and provide insight into patterns within the dataset. However, a direct cause-and-effect relationship has not been established,” said University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine. ‘s lead author Dr. Aneth Burge told Forbes.

While this study itself cannot conclusively accept this data to link cannabis to heart attacks, it does suggest that greater precautions may be taken in clinics for people who frequently use cannabis. suggests. New box to check on intake form if required.

“Finally, while our findings do not establish a causal relationship between cannabis use disorder and cardiovascular disease events, they may have applications such as screening individuals who use cannabis specifically for cardiovascular disease. “This project still has explanatory value: the base rate of cardiovascular disease in this population,” the study said.

In fact, recent studies have found somewhat contradictory data regarding cannabis use and heart problems.Research published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology Just last month, it was found that monthly cannabis use does not increase the risk of heart attack, but it is difficult to compare with studies of people with cannabis use disorder. That’s because people with that diagnosis apparently use cannabis much more frequently than once a month.research in Dependence They also acknowledged that their results were inconsistent with one of the longest-running cardiovascular studies ever conducted.

“…results from the prospective study, Coronary Artery Risk Incidence in Young Adults (CARDIA), one of the largest prospective studies of its kind, are inconsistent and show that neither cumulative lifetime nor recent use of cannabis “We found no association with the incidence of cardiovascular disease in midlife,” the study said.

The study estimates that 27% to 34% of cannabis users suffer from cannabis use disorder, and claims that cannabis use disorder is increasingly associated with negative health outcomes. However, much of the data on this issue remains very limited.

“Cannabis is associated with serious cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction, stroke, cardiomyopathy, atherosclerosis, and arrhythmia,” the study states. “The exact mechanism by which cannabis use induces cardiovascular disease events is unknown, but it is likely due to activation of the endocannabinoid system, which consists of endocannabinoids, their receptors, and complex downstream signaling pathways. .”