By Cara Murez
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, May 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Cigarette smoking has long been linked to peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a condition in which plaque buildup narrows the arteries and limits blood flow to the legs. or the arms.
Now, a new study suggests that marijuana may have a similar impact, after finding that users had a three times higher risk of developing PAD.
Although the study is preliminary and does not determine whether the full impact comes from smoking marijuana or other popular methods of using the drug, such as eating marijuana-infused gummies, it can be a red flag for users and could be something their doctors they should recommend. ask about measuring risk factors for their patients.
“Marijuana users should seek early evaluation by a health professional if they have symptoms such as leg pain when walking, slower or no hair growth, and leg coldness, as there appears to be an increased risk of develop PAD in this patient population”. said study authors Dr. Hirva Vyas, of Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, and Dr. Harsh Jain, a resident of Montefiore Health System in New York City.
To study this, Vyas and Jain used data from national samples of US hospitalized patients from 2016 to 2019.
More than 620,000 of the 30 million patients were marijuana users. They had an average age of just over 37 years. Among them, more than 2,400 also had PAD.
Although marijuana users had a much higher risk of developing PAD, there was no statistically significant increased risk of death or surgery.
Marijuana use may change the way blood clots or affect peripheral vascular tone, the study authors suggested.
The study found that marijuana users were at increased risk even after controlling for a few variables, including cigarette smoking, Vyas and Jain said.
Although the database had no information on method of consumption, “it is critical to note that the active ingredient THC is metabolized in different ways when smoked or ingested, and may have different risk factors associated with each.” said Vyas and Jain. .
About 6.5 million Americans have PAD, and nearly 50 million Americans now report using marijuana, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Robert Page, a professor in the departments of clinical pharmacy and physical medicine at the University of Colorado Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus, cautioned that the study shows an association, not a cause-and-effect link.
Page, who chaired the American Heart Association’s 2020 statement on medical marijuana, recreational cannabis, and cardiovascular health, was not involved in this study.
While the findings don’t paint the whole picture, including method of administration and other health risk factors, the study does point to some particular safety signals, Page said.
In previous research, cannabis has been shown to be linked to a number of other cardiovascular health problems in heavy smokers of the drug, Page said.
THC — the component in marijuana that makes you “high” — is known to affect blood platelets in a test-tube environment, Page noted.
“What it does suggest is that, to put it simply, THC can make platelets angry, and when they get angry, they accumulate. And when they’re added, that can lead to what we call thrombosis. [a blood clot],” He explained.
Cigarette smoking has many very negative impacts on blood vessels because of the negative byproducts it releases, like tar, not just from nicotine, Page said.
“In people who smoke cannabis, it creates the same types of carcinogens and tar,” Page said.
These byproducts can damage the tissue surrounding or within blood vessels.
Both THC and cannabidiol (CBD) can also negatively affect the tone of the vasculature, Page said. THC can stimulate receptors in the brain that trigger a narrowing of blood vessels, she said.
“When you take that into account, these data are not surprising,” Page said. “I think it adds to the literature, particularly in younger adults, that we’re seeing increased risk of ischemic stroke and we’re also seeing an increase in early first stroke in younger adults, between the ages of 18 to 40, where you wouldn’t think of that.”
And then, he added, “it’s been associated with early myocardial infarction [heart attack] in young adults to the point where we think maybe smoking cannabis could be just as bad as smoking cigarettes in terms of causing a heart attack.”
The risks may be different with current THC products than with marijuana in the past, with current products containing even higher levels of THC, Page said.
“The takeaway from this for providers, particularly in younger adults, is that these data suggest a red flag,” Page said. “And what that means is that providers should ask at every patient encounter that their patients be very transparent about their cannabinoid use, non-judgmental, but we should use this as a risk factor for coronary and peripheral artery disease. ”
The research will be presented May 18 at the annual meeting of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, in Phoenix, Arizona. Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
More information
The US National Institutes of Health has more about peripheral artery disease.
SOURCES: Hirva Vyas, DO, Hackensack University Medical Center, New Jersey; Harsh Jain, DO, resident, Montefiore Health System, New York City; Robert Page, PharmD, professor, departments of clinical pharmacy and physical medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Denver; Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Annual Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona, May 18, 2023
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