A Study Has Found That Regular Marijuana Use Can Harm Your Heart!
Studies and research on the long-term effects of marijuana usage continue to highlight new dangers as its use becomes more widespread. An increased chance of developing coronary artery disease, or CAD, is one such danger.
At the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting, the new study will be presented. According to the study’s findings, compared to non-users, daily marijuana users have a 30% higher chance of developing coronary artery disease (CAD).
A resident physician at Stanford University and the study’s lead author, Dr. Ishan Paranjpe, told CNN in an email that research around prolonged marijuana usage has continued to reveal adverse effects that had not previously been observed.
Cannabis may not be completely harmful and may even contribute to cardiovascular illness, according to a growing body of research, according to Paranjpe. The doctor continued by advising patients to carefully consider “the possibility for significant cardiac disease” before deciding to use the substance.
The All of Us Research Program, run by the National Institutes of Health, collected health data from over 1 million US citizens over time for this type of research, and the study used data from participants in that program.
Participants in the program were emailed surveys, which contained inquiries concerning marijuana use. 4,736 respondents to the study said they used marijuana daily, 2,720 said they used it once a week, 2,075 said they used it once or twice in the previous three months, and 39,678 said they hadn’t used it at all.
Many years after the five participant types first enrolled in the program, the researchers used the health records from those records. Data revealed that compared to people who did not use cannabis, daily cannabis users had a 34% higher risk of being given a CAD diagnosis.
The study also discovered no appreciable risk increase in people who used the medicine once a month or less. Researchers controlled for additional putative CAD causes to be sure their results were unaffected by these factors.
They included high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity, smoking, alcohol usage, and a high cholesterol level as well as age and sex. Other significant risk factors were being overweight and having high blood pressure.
The findings persisted once the dangers were taken into account, according to the researchers. Some speculate that it may be because of how the drug makes the body react when it comes to possible explanations for why regular marijuana usage seems to be associated with harm to a person’s heart and blood vessels.
The CDC reports that immediately following each use, the medicine raises a user’s heart rate and blood pressure. Hence, the organ might experience stress. The American Heart Association issued a warning in 2020 urging people to abstain from smoking and vaping any substances for the same reason.
The CDC claims that marijuana smoke contains many of the same hazardous compounds that scientists have discovered in tobacco smoke. These substances are bad for the heart and lungs. The CDC states that angina, chest discomfort, feeling weak, dizzy, queasy, or suffering shortness of breath are symptoms of CAD and how to recognize them.
According to the CDC, plaque buildup in the walls of the arteries that carry blood to the heart is what causes CAD, the most prevalent form of heart disease. The CDC stated that for a select few people, a heart attack is the initial symptom of CAD.
