Chances of respiratory-related ER visits, hospitalizations not higher among cannabis users


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Researchers of a new study found no significant association between cannabis use and respiratory-related emergency department visits or hospitalizations, but a greater risk of morbidity, emergency department visit all-cause or hospitalization among cannabis users.

“There are few data on the association between cannabis use and acute respiratory disease,” Nicholas T Vozoris, BSc, MHScMD, FRCPC, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto and pulmonologist at St. Michael’s Hospital at Unity Health, Toronto, and colleagues wrote in BMJ Open Respiratory Research.

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The population-based retrospective cohort study included 35,114 people who reported having used cannabis in the previous year (n=18.3%; mean age, 32.2 years; 38.8% women) or who had not used cannabis (n = 81.7%; mean age, 40.2 years). year ; 58.6% women). Researchers linked health survey and administrative data on the health of residents aged 12 to 65 living in Ontario, Canada, from 2009 to 2015. Researchers assessed emergency department visits or hospitalizations respiratory-related and all-cause mortality and all-cause mortality up to 12 months after index date. Three-quarters of people who used cannabis were matched on propensity score with 10,395 controls.

The researchers reported no significant difference in the odds of respiratory-related emergency room visits or hospitalizations between those who used cannabis and those who did not (OR = 0.91; 95% CI, 0.77-1.09). Additionally, the researchers found no significant difference in all-cause mortality (OR=0.99; 95% CI, 0.49-2.02).

People who used cannabis had significantly higher risks of emergency room visits or all-cause hospitalizations (OR = 1.22; 95% CI, 1.13-1.31) compared to controls.

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