While marijuana has been legalized in many states, research has shown that it could have detrimental health impacts for some — including a higher risk of heart attacks.
Two recent studies have linked cannabis use to cardiac events, particularly among young, healthier people, according to a release from the American College of Cardiology (ACC).
One study included more than 4.6 million people. The other was a large review that looked at 12 previous studies including more than 75 million people, which is said to be the largest combined study examining the relationship between cannabis and heart attacks.
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The findings will be presented at the ACC’s Annual Scientific Session March 29-31 in Chicago and will also be published in the journal JACC Advances.
Healthy cannabis users who were younger than age 50 were more than six times as likely to experience a heart attack compared to those who did not use the substance, the researchers found.
They were also four times as likely to have a stroke, twice as likely to experience heart failure and three times as likely to die from a cardiac event.
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This risk was shown to peak as soon as one hour after cannabis use in one of the studies.
All participants had no previous heart conditions, were not tobacco users, had healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and had no history of diabetes.
“We do know that smoking cigarettes increases the risk of a cardiac event, and it’s reasonable to assume that smoking marijuana presents a similar risk.”
The study did not identify exactly how marijuana compromises heart health, but the researchers presented some possibilities.
Those included that it could “affect heart rhythm regulation, heighten oxygen demand in the heart muscle, and contribute to endothelial dysfunction, which makes it harder for the blood vessels to relax and expand, and can interrupt blood flow,” the release stated.
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“Asking about cannabis use should be part of clinicians’ workup to understand patients’ overall cardiovascular risk, similar to asking about smoking cigarettes,” said lead author Ibrahim Kamel, MD, clinical instructor at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and internal medicine resident at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Boston, in the release.
“At a policy level, a fair warning should be made so that the people who are consuming cannabis know that there are risks.”
The study did have some limitations, the researchers noted.
There were some inconsistencies in the data regarding the duration and amount of cannabis use or the use of tobacco or other drugs, the release stated.
“We should have some caution in interpreting the findings in that cannabis consumption is usually associated with other substances, such as cocaine or other illicit drugs, that are not accounted for,” Kamel said.
“Patients should be forthcoming with their doctors and remember that we are their No. 1 advocate and having the full story matters.”
The researchers called for additional studies to confirm the findings and identify the highest-risk groups.
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Dr. Jasdeep Dalawari, an Illinois-based interventional cardiologist and regional chief medical officer at VitalSolution, an Ingenovis Health company, was not involved in the study but reiterated its limitations as a retrospective study.
“A randomized control trial is ideal, but difficult with this topic,” he told Fox News Digital. “It raises questions as to the safety of marijuana as it becomes more ubiquitous.”
“At a policy level, a fair warning should be made so that the people who are consuming cannabis know that there are risks.”
While Dalawari said this study is “interesting and concerning,” he also called for more data on the topic.
“I advise all my patients to quit smoking all substances, because we do know that smoking cigarettes increases the risk of a cardiac event, and it’s reasonable to assume that smoking marijuana presents a similar risk,” he said.
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“It would be interesting to know if this study addresses the risks of ingesting versus smoking. Nevertheless, I would advise patients to limit cannabis use until definitive studies are published.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for comment.
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