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Smoking, vaping or eating marijuana is linked to a significantly increased risk of heart attack and stroke, even if a person had no existing heart disease and did not smoke or vape tobacco, a new study found.
While both daily and non-daily users had a higher risk of heart attack and stroke compared to non-users, the risk of stroke increased by 42% and the risk of heart attack increased by 25% if cannabis was used daily, the study found. The risk increased as the number of days of marijuana use increased.
“Cannabis smoke is not that different from tobacco smoke, except for the psychoactive drug: THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) versus nicotine,” said the study’s lead author, Abra Jeffers, a data analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who Research tobacco and how to quit smoking.
“Our study shows that smoking cannabis has important cardiovascular effects. risks, just like smoking tobacco. “This is particularly important because cannabis use is increasing and conventional tobacco use is decreasing,” Jeffers said in a statement.
The study findings mirror other research that has found that daily marijuana use is linked to an increase in coronary heart disease, heart attacks and strokes, said Robert Page II, a professor of clinical pharmacy and physical medicine at the University of Colorado Skaggs College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Aurora, Colorado.
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“The findings of this study have very important implications for population health and should be a call to action for all professionals, as this study adds to the growing literature that cannabis use and cardiovascular disease can be a potentially dangerous combination,” Page said in a statement.
Page, who was not involved in this study, chaired the volunteer writing group for 2020. scientific statement on the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana and cardiovascular health.
The danger is real for both young and old
The study, published on wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, analyzed data from 430,000 adults collected between 2016 and 2020 through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a national telephone survey conducted each year by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The people surveyed were between 18 and 74 years old, with an average age of 45 years. Nearly 90% of adults did not use marijuana, while more than 63% had never used tobacco. Among current marijuana users, nearly 74% reported that smoking was the most common form of use; 4% were daily consumers, while 7% consumed less than daily. Nearly 29% of daily marijuana users and 44% of non-daily users never used tobacco cigarettes.
Younger adults (defined as men under age 55 and women under age 65) who used marijuana had a 36% increased risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack, and stroke, regardless of whether they also used traditional tobacco products.
Heart disease and marijuana use have a known link
Previous research has already found a link between heart disease and marijuana use.
A February 2023 study found that using marijuana every day can increase a person’s risk of coronary artery disease by a third compared to those who never use it. Coronary artery disease is caused by plaque buildup on the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. Also called atherosclerosis, CAD is the most common type of heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Two studies published in November found that older adults who do not smoke tobacco but use marijuana had a higher risk of heart attack and stroke when hospitalized, while people who used marijuana daily had a 34% higher risk of heart attack and stroke. chances of developing heart failure.
Marijuana use is increasing among older adults. TO study 2020 found that the number of people over 65 in the United States who smoke marijuana or consume edibles doubled between 2015 and 2018.
The American Heart Association recommends that people refrain from smoking or vaping any substances, including cannabis products, due to possible damage to the heart, lungs and blood vessels.
“The latest research on cannabis use indicates that smoking and inhaling cannabis increases blood concentrations of carboxyhemoglobin (carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas), (and) Tar (partially burned combustible matter) similar to the effects of inhaling a tobacco cigarette, which have been linked to heart muscle disease, chest pain, heart rhythm disturbances, heart attacks and other serious conditions,” Page told CNN in a previous interview. .
“You need to treat this as you would any other risk factor (for heart disease and stroke) and honestly understand the risks you are taking,” he said.