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Fox News
12 hours ago
- Health
- Fox News
Cannabis use raises risk of heart attack and stroke more than cocaine, other drugs, major review suggests
The potential risk of cannabis use has been in the spotlight following recent research pointing toward negative health effects. This includes a new meta-analysis by French researchers, published in the journal Heart, which reviewed multiple studies to assess the link between cannabis and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). The researchers analyzed data from more than 400 million patients involved in 24 previous cross-sectional studies (capturing data at a single point in time) and cohort studies (following patients over time). One study focused on medical cannabis. The overall results noted a significant increase in risk of major cardiovascular events, including a 29% higher likelihood of heart attack, 20% higher risk of stroke and twice the chances of cardiovascular death. The danger was also elevated in people who used cannabis at least once a week. Several studies found higher odds of acute myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack. One study pinpointed the risk among younger populations aged 15 to 22, while another observed it in patients who used cannabis more than once a week. One study from the primary French administrative database for hospitals found that, compared to other illicit drugs like cocaine and opioids, cannabis was a larger predictor of heart attack. Another study analyzed the association between cannabis and acute coronary syndrome (reduced blood flow to the heart) in nearly 15,000 patients ranging from 18 to 54 years old. The analysis found no significant association in the overall sample, but signaled a higher risk in a subgroup of patients aged 18 to 36. Cannabis use significantly increased all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality in a cohort of patients who experienced a heart attack before age 50. A UK Biobank analysis pointed out that women have a "significantly higher" risk of cardiovascular mortality than men. The larger review concluded that these findings reveal "positive associations" between cannabis use and MACE, and should "encourage investigating cannabis use in all patients presenting with serious cardiovascular disorders." Although medical marijuana can provide relief for people with conditions like arthritis, multiple sclerosis, cancer and other illnesses, overuse has been linked to potential health risks, especially for seniors. The authors of the French review acknowledged that there were some limitations to the findings – primarily that there is a lower prevalence of cocaine and opioids compared to cannabis use. "Cannabis exposure was poorly reported in the included studies, which prevented our meta-analysis from assessing it," they wrote. There was also a potential for some degree of bias in some of the studies due to lack of information or missing data. "Studies that relied on patient surveys faced substantial bias regarding exposure and outcome misclassification when patients assessed these data themselves," the researchers noted. Other potential limitations included overlapping data and limited timeframes. During an appearance on "America's Newsroom" in early June, Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel commented on a recent study that found more seniors are using cannabis than ever before, despite the potential health risks. Siegel noted that regular use of cannabis can be dangerous if not tracked. "We definitely jumped the gun by not anticipating all the medical risks here." "You might use a gummy to go to bed, and then the next thing, you're using two gummies, or three gummies, and it could increase anxiety, it can increase discombobulation, you're not thinking clearly, ER visits are on the increase," he cautioned. "We know about problems with the lungs," Siegel added. "It can accelerate dementia and can affect behavior." The doctor likened the use of marijuana to the effects of smoking cigarettes in terms of damage to the heart and lungs. "It is absolutely an active chemical we need to watch out for, and I'm very disturbed that the elderly are using it," he said. "We've completely jumped the gun [on legalization] because people are going to the ER with psychosis. They're going there with vomiting disorders. They're having car accidents as a result," he went on. For more Health articles, visit "We are studying Colorado ever since it was legalized there, and the results are not pretty. We definitely jumped the gun by not anticipating all the medical risks here." Fox News Digital reached out to the study authors for comment.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Cannabis users 29% more likely to experience heart risks, new study shows
A new study builds on previous research that shows marijuana usage can be attributed to cardiovascular risks. Research published in Heart, an international peer-reviewed journal, documents that adults who use cannabis are 29% more likely than nonusers to develop Acute Coronary Syndrome and 20% more likely than nonusers to suffer from stroke. Acute Coronary Syndrome is any condition brought on by a reduction or blockage of blood flow to the heart, which can result in heart attacks. Researchers surveyed 24 studies conducted between 2016 and 2023 that involved more than 400 million participants, ranging mostly between 19 and 59, according to the study. "Our findings are consistent with those from previous reviews, which outlined a positive association between cannabis use and cardiovascular disorders," the study states. "The increased awareness of this potential risk among cannabis users should encourage investigating such use in all patients presenting with serious cardiovascular disorders." Marijuana news: New study finds cannabis edibles raise risk of premature heart disease Simply put, not enough research has been conducted to determine just how marijuana affects the cardiovascular system. The research that has been done has largely been conducted on the effects of smoking cannabis, in contrast to other modes of consumption like edibles. But generally, researchers understand that marijuana can make the heart beat faster and raise blood pressure, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Ahmed Mahmoud, a clinical instructor at Boston University, previously told USA TODAY that researchers believe marijuana may make small defects in the coronary arteries' lining, the thin layer of cells that forms the inner surface of blood vessels and hollow organs. "Because cannabis increases the blood pressure and makes the blood run very fast and make some detects in the lining to the coronary arteries, this somehow could make a thrombosis (formation of a blood clot) or a temporary thrombosis in these arteries, which makes a cardiac ischemic (stroke) or the heart muscle is not getting enough oxygen to function," Mahmoud previously told USA TODAY. "This is what makes the heart injured and this is a myocardial infarction or heart attack." Terms to know: Is marijuana the same as cannabis? What is THC? The new study aligns with previous research about cannabis' effects on the cardiovascular system. A study published earlier this year found that people under the age of 50 who consume marijuana are about 6.2 times more likely to experience a heart attack than nonusers. Young marijuana users are also 4.3 times more likely to experience an ischemic stroke and 2 times more likely to experience heart failure, the study shows. And a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association last year found the same, that cannabis users are more likely to experience cardiovascular risks than those who do not partake. Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Heart risks 29% more likely among cannabis users, study shows
Health Line
2 days ago
- Health
- Health Line
Cannabis Use May Double Risk of Death From Cardiovascular Disease, Study Finds
A new scientific analysis indicates that cannabis use may increase the risk of cardiovascular health issues, including stroke. In an accompanying editorial, two health experts say these risks are serious enough to warrant the regulation of cannabis in the same manner as tobacco. Previous research has reported on the health benefits of cannabis for people with chronic pain and other ailments, but experts say the potential effects of cannabis should be discussed with your doctor. Medical experts are sending out another strong warning about cannabis use and the risk of cardiovascular health issues. In an analysis published in the journal Heart, researchers report heightened risks of stroke, acute coronary syndrome, and death from cardiovascular disease associated with frequent cannabis use. In an accompanying editorial, two health experts say the dangers from cannabis use are serious enough to warrant the substance being regulated much like tobacco. The editorial authors say the warnings are particularly important because the recent widespread legalization of the drug may have convinced many people that cannabis use is safe. 'Frequent cannabis use has increased in several countries, and many users believe that it is a safe and natural way to relieve pain or stress. In contrast, a growing body of evidence links cannabis use to significant harms throughout life, including cardiovascular health of adults,' wrote Stanton Glantz, PhD, an emeritus professor at the University of California San Francisco, and Lynn Silver, MD, a professor in UCSF's Department of Epidemiology and a program director at the Public Health Institute in Oakland, CA. 'Specifically, cannabis should be treated like tobacco: not criminalized but discouraged, with protection of bystanders from secondhand exposure,' the editorial authors added. Robert Page II, PharmD, a professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and the Department of Physical Medicine/Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, noted the analysis relied on observational studies, but said the message is clear. 'This meta-analysis validates current large observation studies that cannabis should be considered a potential risk factor for premature development of ASCVD (atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease), said Page, who was chair of an American Heart Association writing group that authored a 2020 report on cannabis, medical cannabis, and heart health. Page wasn't involved in the present study. 'If we ignore these signals, we are destined to repeat the fatal history of cigarette smoking, which took years to finally realize its devastating effects on cardiovascular health and mortality,' he told Healthline. Cannabis and heart health In their analysis, researchers looked at 24 studies published between January 2016 and January 2023 that included about 200 million people. The study participants were mostly between the ages of 19 and 59. Cannabis use tended to be more frequent in males and in younger people. The researchers said their analysis of that data revealed that cannabis use doubled the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. They also reported that people who used cannabis had a 29% higher risk of acute coronary syndrome, a condition that causes sudden reduced or blocked blood flow to the heart, as well as a 20% higher risk of stroke. The researchers acknowledged that many of the studies they analyzed lacked information on missing data and had imprecise measures of cannabis exposure. Most of the studies were also observational. Nonetheless, their analysis comes less than a month after another study concluded that chronic use of cannabis is associated with a higher risk of endothelial dysfunction, a type of non-obstructive coronary artery disease in which there are no heart artery blockages but the large blood vessels on the heart's surface constrict instead of dilating. In addition, another analysis from earlier this year reported that cannabis users were six times more likely to have a heart attack than non-users. A 2024 study concluded that people who use cannabis to treat chronic pain had a higher risk of atrial fibrillation and other forms of heart arrhythmia. The researchers in the new analysis say their findings are particularly important because the use of cannabis has soared in recent years. They also note that the potency of the drug has increased. There was no delineation in the analysis, however, on the risks of smoking cannabis compared to ingesting it. Cheng-Han Chen, MD, an interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in California, said both methods may present health risks. Chen wasn't involved in the study. 'It is thought that ingesting THC increases systolic absorption of the chemical when compared to smoking THC and thus results in greater adverse effects,' he told Healthline. 'However, cannabis smoke comes with a separate set of health concerns, as the smoke contains many carcinogens and mutagens similar to tobacco smoke.' Ziva Cooper, the director of the UCLA Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids, said the frequency someone uses cannabis, as well as the dosage, are also important factors. Cooper was likewise not involved in the study. She noted that new research is starting to show there are mental health risks to frequent cannabis use. One of those is cannabis use disorder, a condition that is estimated to affect 30% of people who use the substance. 'There are new risks that are emerging that weren't even on the radar,' Cooper told Healthline. She added cannabis can also impair people's ability to drive as well as impair their cognitive abilities. 'These are things that can affect a person's everyday life,' Cooper said. Defending cannabis use Paul Armentano, the deputy director of NORML, a non-profit that advocates for the responsible use of cannabis, acknowledges there are studies that report health risks associated with cannabis use. Armentano wasn't involved in the study. However, he told Healthline there are others who conclude there is no risk or even a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease from cannabis use. These include a 2023 study, a 2020 study, and a 2023 meta-analysis. 'In short, while tobacco smoke exposure's role in cardiovascular disease is well established, the potential role of cannabis smoke is not,' Armentano said. 'Nonetheless, persons wishing to mitigate their intake of cannabis smoke can do so via the use of herbal vaporizers, which heat cannabinoids to the point of activation but below the point of combustion.' Armentano cited studies in 2006 and 2007 that reported no health effects from vaporization. Some research has reported on some overall health benefits derived from cannabis use. A 2023 study concluded that medical cannabis can improve the quality of life for some people with chronic pain. Other research has reported that cannabis can be helpful to people with depression, social anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are also indications that cannabis products can help ease the side effects of cancer treatments. Talking with your doctor about cannabis In their editorial, Glantz and Silver encourage medical professionals to become leaders in cannabis education. 'There is an important role for public health and public policy in addressing the risks identified [in the new analysis],' they wrote. 'While the trend toward legalization is established, that does not mean that the risks of cannabis use should be minimized or its use encouraged.' Page said he takes cannabis use into consideration when assessing his patients' cardiovascular health. 'While many of the current cardiovascular risk calculators do not include smoking cannabis into their algorithms, I do include it (just like smoking cigarettes) when assessing patients' cardiovascular risk and consider it just as powerful a risk factor as smoking cigarettes,' he said. Page added that people should be informed about the many potential health issues of cannabis use before deciding whether to use it. 'Know the risks and talk to your primary care provider before considering any use, medical or recreational. Many younger adults feel invincible and have the belief that 'This will not happen to me' or 'I could never develop cannabis use disorder.' However, it does and can occur,' he said. 'For older adults, I caution them regarding potential drug-drug interactions as both THC [tetrahydrocannabinol] and CBD [cannabidiol] can have effects on a large majority of medications, both pharmacokinetically and pharmacodynamically,' Page added. Chen agrees that patients need to educate themselves about cannabis before trying it. 'Any form of cannabis use does involve some risk to your health. Everyone must decide for themselves how much risk they want to expose themselves to,' said Chen. 'I would advise people to avoid smoking cannabis, as the smoke can directly harm the lungs. Also, patients with known pre-existing cardiovascular disease or with cardiovascular risk factors should consider avoiding cannabis use in general, given the potential harm to heart health,' he added. Cooper noted that cannabis has 500 different chemical components, so its effects can vary greatly from person to person.
Medscape
2 days ago
- Health
- Medscape
Cannabis Linked to Increased Risk for CVD Death
Cannabis use was associated with a significant twofold increased risk for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), including a doubling in the likelihood of death from these events, in a meta-analysis of 24 relevant studies. The analysis is one of the largest and most detailed to date examining cannabis use and MACEs in real-world settings. Based on their findings, the authors call for 'systematic investigation' of cannabis use in all patients presenting with serious cardiovascular disorders. The study, with first author Wilhelm Storck, PhD, with the University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France, was published online on June 17 in the journal Heart . Changing Attitudes The findings come at a time of increasing cannabis use, driven in part by legalization and the expanding use of cannabis for medical purposes — shifts that may have contributed to more permissive public attitudes toward the drug despite accumulating evidence of potential risk to heart health. Previous studies have described potential cannabis-related cardiovascular risk. But knowledge gaps remained on the magnitude of the associated risk for cannabis users, particularly in recent years marked by the availability of more potent and increasingly diverse forms of cannabis, from high-strength inhaled concentrates to edibles and synthetic cannabinoids. Storck and colleagues sought to quantify the actual cardiovascular risks of cannabis use amid these evolving trends. They systematically reviewed 24 pharmacoepidemiologic studies (17 cross-sectional, six cohort, and one case-control study) published between January 2016 and January 2023. Together, the studies involved roughly 200 million individuals across multiple countries. The final analysis focused on cannabis-related MACEs (ie, cardiovascular death; nonfatal acute coronary syndrome [ACS], including myocardial infarction; or nonfatal stroke). Their pooled results revealed positive associations between cannabis use and MACEs, with a 20% higher risk for stroke (risk ratio [RR], 1.20), a 29% higher risk for ACS (RR, 1.29), and more than double the risk for cardiovascular mortality (RR, 2.10) compared to nonusers. The investigators noted that the single study on medical cannabis that was included in the meta-analysis also highlighted a positive association. The findings held up in sensitivity analyses limited to cohort studies, suggesting a robust association despite some methodological limitations, the authors said. In addition, they noted that four additional papers published outside of the time window of their study yielded comparable results. Treat Cannabis Like Tobacco? The authors noted that cannabis exposure was often poorly measured across the studies. Only four studies collected data on dose and assessed dose-response. There was also a moderate-to-high risk for bias in many of the studies. Most studies were cross-sectional, which are not designed to prove causality. Despite these caveats, this 'exhaustive analysis of published data on the potential association between cannabis use and the occurrence of MACE provides new insights from real-world data,' they said. The authors of a linked editorial said the study raises 'serious questions about the assumption that cannabis poses little cardiovascular risk.' 'Cannabis needs to be incorporated into the framework for prevention of clinical cardiovascular disease. So too must cardiovascular disease prevention be incorporated into the regulation of cannabis markets,' wrote Stanton Glantz, PhD, and Lynn Silver, MD, MPH, with University of California San Francisco. As the evidence base grows, Glantz and Sliver said cardiovascular and other health risks must be considered in the regulation of allowable product and marketing design. 'Today that regulation is focused on establishing the legal market with woeful neglect of minimizing health risks. Specifically, cannabis should be treated like tobacco: Not criminalized but discouraged, with protection of bystanders from secondhand exposure,' they concluded.
CNN
2 days ago
- Health
- CNN
Marijuana use doubles risk of dying from heart disease, large study finds
Drugs in society Heart disease Chronic diseasesFacebookTweetLink Follow Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being. Using marijuana doubles the risk of dying from heart disease, according to a new analysis of pooled medical data involving 200 million people mostly between the ages of 19 and 59. 'What was particularly striking was that the concerned patients hospitalized for these disorders were young (and thus, not likely to have their clinical features due to tobacco smoking) and with no history of cardiovascular disorder or cardiovascular risk factors,' said senior author Émilie Jouanjus, an associate professor of pharmacology at the University of Toulouse, France, in an email. Compared to nonusers, those who used cannabis also had a 29% higher risk for heart attacks and a 20% higher risk for stroke, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Heart. 'This is one of the largest studies to date on the connection between marijuana and heart disease, and it raises serious questions about the assumption that cannabis imposes little cardiovascular risk,' said pediatrician Dr. Lynn Silver, a clinical professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco. 'Getting this right is critically important because cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death both in the United States and globally,' said Silver, who is also senior adviser at the Public Health Institute, a nonprofit public health organization that analyzes marijuana policy and legalization. Silver is the coauthor of an editorial published with the paper that calls for change in how cannabis is viewed by health professionals, regulatory bodies and the public at large. 'Clinicians need to screen people for cannabis use and educate them about its harms, the same way we do for tobacco, because in some population groups it's being used more widely than tobacco,' she said. 'Our regulatory system, which has been almost entirely focused on creating legal infrastructure and licensing legal, for-profit (cannabis) businesses, needs to focus much more strongly on health warnings that educate people about the real risks.' The new systematic review and meta-analysis analyzed medical information from large, observational studies conducted in Australia, Egypt, Canada, France, Sweden and the US between 2016 and 2023. Those studies did not ask people how they used cannabis — such as via smoking, vaping, dabbing, edibles, tinctures or topicals. (Dabbing involves vaporizing concentrated cannabis and inhaling the vapor.) However, 'based on epidemiological data, it is likely that cannabis was smoked in the vast majority of cases,' Jouanjus said. Smoking tobacco is a well-known cause of heart disease — both the smoke and the chemicals in tobacco damage blood vessels and increase clotting, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Therefore, it is not surprising that smoking, vaping or dabbing cannabis could do the same, Silver said: 'Any of the many ways of inhaling cannabis are going to have risks to the user, and there's also secondhand smoke risks, which are similar to tobacco.' The notion that smoking cannabis is less harmful because it's 'natural' is just wrong, Dr. Beth Cohen, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told CNN in a prior interview. 'When you burn something, whether it is tobacco or cannabis, it creates toxic compounds, carcinogens, and particulate matter that are harmful to health,' Cohen said in an email. However, edibles may also play a role in heart disease, according to a May 2025 study. People who consumed edibles laced with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, showed signs of early cardiovascular disease similar to tobacco smokers. 'We found that vascular function was reduced by 42% in marijuana smokers and by 56% in THC-edible users compared to nonusers,' Dr. Leila Mohammadi, an assistant researcher in cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco, told CNN in a prior interview. None of the studies included in the new meta-analysis asked users about the potency of THC in the products they consume. Even if they had, that information would be quickly outdated, Silver said. 'The cannabis market is a moving target. It is getting more potent every day,' she said. 'What's being sold to people today in California is 510 times stronger than what it was in the 1970s. Concentrates can be 99% pure THC. Vapes are over 80% THC. 'A variety of chemically extracted cannabinoids can be almost pure THC, and all of these just have very different effects on people than smoking a joint in the 1970s.' Higher potency weed is contributing to a host of problems, including an increase in addiction — a July 2022 study found consuming high-potency weed was linked to a fourfold increased risk of dependence. In the United States, about 3 in 10 people who use marijuana have cannabis use disorder, the medical term for marijuana addiction, according to the CDC. 'We know that more potent cannabis makes people more likely to become addicted,' Silver said. 'We know that more potent cannabis makes people more likely to develop psychosis, seeing and hearing things that aren't there, or schizophrenia. Habitual users may also suffer from uncontrollable vomiting.' The rise in potency is one reason that the current study may not have captured the full extent of the risk of marijuana for heart disease, Jouanjus said: 'We are afraid that the association might be even stronger than that reported.' While science continues to study the risk, experts say it's time to think twice about the potential harms of cannabis use — especially if heart disease is a concern. 'If I was a 60-year-old person who had some heart disease risk, I would be very cautious about using cannabis,' Silver said. 'I've seen older people who are using cannabis for pain or for sleep, some of whom have significant cardiovascular risk, or who have had strokes or had heart attacks or had angina, and they have no awareness that this may be putting them at greater risk.'
