Marijuana hospital visits linked to dementia diagnosis within 5 years – a study

Summary

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. CNN — Sunday is 420 day, when lovers of marijuana get together to celebrate their fondness for weed. Yet research shows that regular users of marijuana are at risk for serious conditions, including strokes, heart attacks, cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure and myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart muscle. Now, an increased risk of dementia can be added to the list, according to a large study of more than 6 million people published April 14 in the journal JAMA Neurology. “Someone who has an emergency room visit or hospitalization due to cannabis has a 23% increased risk of dementia within five years compared to someone who was at the hospital for another reason. They have a 72% greater risk compared to the general population,” said study coauthor Dr. Daniel Myran, an assistant professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Ottawa in Canada. “Those numbers have already factored out other reasons for dementia, such as age, sex, mental health or substance use, and whether or not you have chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease,” Myran said. Earlier research shows marijuana users are nearly 25% more likely to need emergency care and hospitalization than nonusers. “However, this is not a study that anyone should look at and say, ‘Jury’s in, and cannabis use causes dementia,’” Myran said. “This is a study that brings up a concerning association that fits within a growing body of research.” The study is a red flag for health professionals who should be screening for cannabis use disorder, said Dr. Robert Page II, a professor of clinical pharmacy and physical medicine at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Aurora. “People with cannabis use disorder are unable to stop using even though they encounter health or soci...