Young adults: more heart attacks from cannabis
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.Heart attacks are rare in people under 45 - but they do happen. A risk factor that hardly anyone has on their radar is the use of cannabis.
Researchers at the University of Toronto evaluated data from a large survey by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) among more than 33,000 adults between the ages of 18 and 44.
17 percent of the participants stated that they had consumed cannabis in the 30 days prior to the survey. 75 percent of these in turn took the drug regularly.
Most cannabis users were male, they also smoked tobacco products or used e-cigarettes, and drank a lot of alcohol more often. The researchers calculated the influence that these risk factors have on the risk of heart attack from the data.
Heart attack risk doubles
1.3 percent of cannabis users, but only 0.8 percent of non-cannabis users, said they had suffered a heart attack. For occasional users, the risk of heart attack was 1.5 times higher than for non-users. For those who consumed the drug more frequently, the risk even increased 2.3 times.
Whether cannabis was consumed through cigarettes, e-cigarettes or in any other form did not play a role in the effect.
The observational study cannot provide any indications of the biochemical pathways by which cannabis consumption affects the heart.
Risks of Consumption
"It's important for young adults to be aware of the risks associated with cannabis use," says Nikhil Mistry, a graduate student at the University of Toronto and one of the study's authors. The scientists suggest adding cannabis use to the official list of the known risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
In addition, it has long been known that cannabis can trigger the onset of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. With regular consumption, the ability to concentrate and react can suffer.
Increase in consumption after legalization
In the United States, Washington District was the first to legalize the private use of cannabis in 2014. In the meantime, 18 of the 50 American states have followed suit. Since then, the use of cannabis as a medicinal as well as a recreational drug has risen continuously.
Tags: diet baby toddler interview
