Adults consuming marijuana daily are 25 per cent more prone to heart attack, says study

Adults who consume marijuana on a daily basis are 25 per cent more prone to havinga heart attack than the ones who do not use it, says a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association and funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The research also discovered a 42 per cent higher risk of stroke associated with regular marijuana (cannabis) usage.

The conclusions of the study were drawn based on information gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2016 through 2020 from 434,104 American residents aged between 18 and 74, a sample deemed typical of the general public.

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Out of the participants, four per cent used cannabis daily, whereas seven per cent used it sometimes, roughly five times a month.

The research discovered that in the case of those who used cannabis less frequently, the cardiovascular risks existed but were considerably lower, with a threeper cent greater risk of heart attack and a fiveper cent increased risk of stroke compared to non-users.

The most common way of consuming cannabis was smoking, then vaping and consuming foods infused with the plant.

"Cannabis use is increasing in the US population. From 2002 to 2019, past‐year prevalence of US adult cannabis use increased from 10.4 per cent to 18.0 per cent, whereas daily/almost daily use (300+ days per year) increased from 1.3 per cent to 3.9 per cent. Rising diagnoses of cannabis use disorder suggest that this increase in use is not confined to reporting of use," the researchers wrote.

"At the same time, perceptions of the harmfulness of cannabis are decreasing. National surveys reported that adult belief in great risk of weekly cannabis use fell from 50 per cent in 2002 to 28.6 per cent in 2019," the research added.

However, the researchers recommended that physicians screen patients for cannabis use and encourage them not to smoke it, similar to the currently accepted screening procedures done for tobacco smoking.

(With inputs from agencies)