United States: Two new studies have found that older adults who do not smoke tobacco but use marijuana are at higher risk of both heart attack and stroke when hospitalized. The studies presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia noted that people who use marijuana daily are 34 percent more likely to develop heart failure.
“Observational data are strongly pointing to the fact that cannabis use at any point in time, be it recreational or medicinal, may lead to the development of cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Robert Page II, chair of the volunteer writing group for the 2020 American Heart Association Scientific Statement: Medical Marijuana, Recreational Cannabis, and Cardiovascular Health, said in a statement.
“What is unique about our study is that patients who were using tobacco were excluded because cannabis and tobacco are sometimes used together; therefore, we were able to specifically examine cannabis use and cardiovascular outcomes,” the lead author of one of the studies, Dr. Avilash Mondal, a resident physician at Nazareth Hospital in Philadelphia, shared in a statement.
The study found that 8,535 adults who abused weed had a 20 percent higher risk of having a major heart or brain event while hospitalized, compared to over 10 million older hospitalized adults who did not use marijuana. Both abusers and non-users had already been diagnosed with high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol.
The research team further remarked that having high blood pressure readings of over 130/80 millimeters of mercury and high cholesterol were key predictors of major adverse heart and brain events in marijuana users.
The second study was held in nearly 160,000 adults with a median age of 54 for about four years to see if use of cannabis would impact their risk of developing heart failure.
The study concluded that people who reported daily marijuana use had a 34 percent increased risk of developing heart failure compared to those who reported never using marijuana.
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