New Study Shows Daily Cannabis Use is Linked to Higher Risk of Heart Disease

new studies have revealed that daily cannabis use can be damaging To the heart.

As daily cannabis use has been on the rise in older individuals, there comes a concern with the health issues linked to usage. The preliminary findings of two new studies have been presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2023 in Philadelphia about the connection between marijuana and the risk of heart disease.

CNN reports that the first study was led by Yakubu Bene-Alhasan, who followed over 150,000 individuals who were free from heart failure at the beginning of the research program. The study participants completed a survey about the frequency of their marijuana use for 45 months. The study found that individuals who had used marijuana daily had a 34 percent increased risk of heart failure, compared to those who never used the drug. Throughout the study, around two percent of people developed heart failure.

The second study analyzed data from the 2019 National Inpatient Sample, in which researchers pulled data on adults aged 65 and older with cardiovascular risk factors. They focused on individuals with no tobacco use and divided patient records into marijuana users and nonusers. The study looked at almost 29,000 people and found that marijuana users had a 20 percent increased chance of “having a major heart or brain event while hospitalized” compared with non-users.

“Since 2015, cannabis use in the U.S. has almost doubled, and it is increasing in older adults, therefore, understanding the potential increased cardiovascular risk from cannabis use is important,” said the lead author of the second study, Avilash Mondal. According to Mondal, what made this study so special 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.”

Three states legalized recreational use of marijuana in 2023, with Ohio being the newest one this past week as a result of the election. Almost half of the United States has made it legal to use marijuana recreationally, with almost all states allowing residents to use it medically.

With the rise of legalizing cannabis in the US, more individuals will be partaking in using the substance as it will be easier to get a hold of. As more people use marijuana, there will be more studies done throughout time to grasp the severity of the long-term effects of the drug.