Using cannabis could lead to a ‘significant’ increase in heart attack and stroke risk, even if people consume edibles, a study suggests.
Researchers in Massachusetts and California spent four years evaluating more than 400,000 US adults in 27 states to examine the link between cannabis use and issues like heart disease and stroke.
The team found that any type of cannabis use – smoking, vaping, or edibles – was ‘associated with a higher number of adverse cardiovascular outcomes.’
And those who used weed daily had a 25 percent higher risk of heart attack and 42 percent increased chance of suffering a stroke.
This could be because the active ingredient in cannabis, THC, has been thought to trigger the body’s fight-or-flight response, which raises heart rate and blood pressure. Over time, this wears away at the heart.
The findings come amid other recent research linking marijuana use to heart issues, with researchers calling for physicians to educate patients more about the risks.
Using cannabis could lead to a ‘significant’ increase in heart attacks (stock)
Marijuana is typically considered to be a low-risk drug, but consistent use can drive up a myriad of health risks including major depression, poor sleep, and dependence
Dr Abras Jeffers, lead study author and data scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said: ‘Despite common use, little is know about the risks of cannabis use and, in particular, the cardiovascular disease risks.’
‘The perceptions of the harmfulness of smoking cannabis are decreasing, and people have not considered cannabis use dangerous to their health.’
The team recruited 430,000 patients in 27 states and two US territories. The participants were between ages 18 and 74, and the average age was 45.
Roughly half were women and half were men. About 60 percent identified as white, 11.6 percent were black, 19.3 percent were Hispanic, and the remainder were a mix of other races.
Nearly 90 percent of the participants said they did not use cannabis at all. About seven percent said they used it non-daily, and four percent did so every day.
Among those who did use cannabis, 74 percent said smoking was their preferred form of consumption.
More than 60 percent used cannabis but had never smoked tobacco cigarettes.
The data was collected through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a national survey performed annually by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
‘Our sample was large enough that we could investigate the association of cannabis use with cardiovascular outcomes among adults who had never used tobacco cigarettes or e-cigarettes,’ Dr Jeffers said.
The researchers found that smoking, eating, or vaping cannabis was associated with a ‘significant’ increase in heart disease and stroke risk, and the more days someone smoked, the more likely they were to have adverse effects.
However, the team noted that this increased risk was consistent with other known heart disease and stroke risks, such as alcohol, body mass index (BMI), Type 2 diabetes, and lack of physical activity.
They also found that daily cannabis users were 25 percent more likely to develop heart disease and 42 percent more likely to suffer a stroke.
And younger adults – men under 55 and women under 65 – who were already at risk for cardiovascular disease had a combined 36 percent increase chance of heart disease, coronary artery disease, and stroke.
‘Our study shows that smoking cannabis has significant cardiovascular risk risks, just like smoking tobacco,’ Dr Jeffers said.
‘This is particularly important because cannabis use is increasing, and conventional tobacco use is decreasing.’
Researchers are still working to unravel exactly why this occurs, though it’s thought that THC activates the body’s fight-or-flight response, which typically occurs during stress or fear.
When fight-or-flight is triggered, it leads to higher heart rate and blood pressure. Over time, this causes the heart to need to work harder to pump blood to the rest of the body.
This can wear away at the heart and lead to conditions like heart disease and stroke.
The findings come amid other recent research suggesting that using cannabis could have detrimental effects on heart and lung health.
A study published in November, for example, found that among 160,000 adults over age 54, those who smoked marijuana daily had a 34 percent higher risk of heart failure.
The above shows cannabis use across American states. 24 have fully legalized it for recreational use
The link between recreational marijuana use and alcohol consumption in recent years has been most significant among younger adults 18 to 24
Additionally, Stanford University physicians have found the more someone used cannabis, the more likely they were to be diagnosed with coronary artery disease (CAD), the most common form of cardiovascular disease, which can lead to heart failure.
CAD killed more than 382,000 Americans in 2020 and about 20.1 million Americans 20 and older have the disease, according to federal data.
Marijuana use causes the heart to beat faster and blood pressure to rise, both of which are believed to increase a person’s risk of developing CAD.
Cannabis users are also slightly more likely to develop lung disease than cigarette users, according to researchers at the University of Ottawa.
Those researchers looked at roughly 150 adults in Canada who were 50 years old on average and were either pot users, tobacco smokers or non-smokers.
Three-quarters of marijuana users had emphysema – a lung disease which leaves sufferers struggling to breathe – compared to two-thirds of tobacco users.
Just one in 20 non-smokers suffered from the condition, which kills more than 120,000 Americans each year.
The authors noted that the study had several limitations, mainly with patients self-reporting their cannabis use and cardiovascular conditions. They said that more large-scale research is needed.
The study was published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
