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Adults under the age of 45 who used cannabis in the past 30 days suffered nearly double the number of heart attacks as adults who did not, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of Canadian Medical Association.
Researchers analyzed health data from more than 33,000 adults aged 18 to 44 included in US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveys in 2017 and 2018. Of the 17% of adults who reported having used cannabis in the previous month, 1.3% later had a heart attack with just 0.8% of non-cannabis users reporting the same.
Some people assume that cannabis use is safe and cannot harm your body, but this is incorrect, said lead author of the study, Dr. Karim Ladha, clinician scientist and anesthesiologist at the St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto in Canada.
“There is growing evidence that this could potentially harm you, both short and long term,” he said.
It can create an irregular heart rate
The study did not investigate how cannabis affects heart health, Ladha said, but did note that previous research has shown that the drug can affect a user’s heart rate.
When a person’s heart rate becomes irregular, it can increase the amount of oxygen the heart needs, Ladha explained. At the same time, cannabis can also limit the amount of oxygen delivered to the heart, he added.
“What you end up having is this mismatch between oxygen supply and demand that basically leads to heart attacks,” Ladha said.
Modern cannabis is extremely potent
Cannabis sold in the market today is also much more potent than cannabis sold over the past 50 years, said Robert Page, chairman of the American Heart Association’s Cannabis Science Statement. Page did not participate in the study.
“It’s not what your grandfather smoked in Woodstock; it’s very potent,” he said.
Many people don’t know that cannabis can have negative interactions with other drugs, Page added.
Like most other drugs, cannabis is metabolized by the liver, which means it has the potential to interact with many cardiovascular drugs like blood thinners, he said.
The AHA research also details the potential benefits of using cannabis for pain relief and other medical purposes, but the negative consequences should not be ignored, the study co-author said, Dr. David Mazer, anesthesiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital and professor in the departments. of anesthesia and physiology at the University of Toronto in Canada.
Cannabis users and their healthcare providers should “balance the risks and benefits of cannabis within their own specific context,” Mazer said.
The AHA does not recommend smoking or vape cannabis in any amount, Page said. Its researchers noted a potential association with stroke, and vaping has been linked to lung damage, he said.
Going forward, Ladha said he wanted to study cannabis users in real time instead of looking at the survey results retroactively.
It is difficult to conduct this type of study because cannabis is not legal in all states or at the US federal level, he noted.
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