An exhaustive analysis of 24 studies on the potential association between cannabis use and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) raises concerns about potential health risks of a substance often presented as “natural and safe,” reports SciTechDaily.
Use of cannabis and cannabinoids has risen sharply around the world in the last decade, fuelled by legalisation and broader medical use – changes that have altered public perception about the safety of the drug. A team of researchers from the University of Toulouse set out to test that perception, moving beyond earlier research that linked cannabis use to cardiovascular issues to assess the exact level of risk.
Their study, published in the journal Heart, draws on data from 24 studies selected from a pool of 3,012 articles on the topic published between January 2016 and December 2023. They focused on studies examining cannabis use and MACE, including deaths from cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke, and found that cannabis use increased risk of acute coronary syndrome by 29 percent, stroke by 20 percent, and doubled the risk of dying of cardiovascular disease.
The two dozen studies selected consisted of 17 cross-sectional studies, six cohort studies and one case-control study and included data on some 200 million people, most between the ages of 19 and 59. Where sex data was available, users tended to be mostly male and younger than non-users.
[See more: No, a nightly glass of wine isn’t ‘good for your heart’]
Missing data like sex, as well as imprecise measures of cannabis exposure, create a moderate to high risk of bias. The researchers also note that most of the studies are observational, making it impossible to draw causal inferences from the data, and that several used the same data. Nonetheless, an associated editorial underscores how the study “raises serious questions about the assumption that cannabis imposes little cardiovascular risk.”
More research is needed, researchers say, to clarify whether cardiovascular risks are limited to inhaled products or extend to other products, as well as how increasing potency and diversification of cannabis products impacts risks. They emphasise the need to act now, however, to limit risk to the public.
“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. Effective product warnings and education on risks must be developed, required, and implemented,” they conclude.
“Cardiovascular and other health risks must be considered in the regulation of allowable product and marketing design as the evidence base grows. Today, that regulation is focused on establishing the legal market with woeful neglect of minimising health risks. Specifically, cannabis should be treated like tobacco: not criminalised, but discouraged, with protection of bystanders from secondhand exposure.”
