Asthma Linked to Cannabis Use, New Study Finds

A recent cross-sectional survey conducted by researchers from three different institutions aimed to gauge how common asthma is in adolescents and adults who had used cannabis within the past 30 days (1). Noting that there is a rise in cannabis use in this population but an absence of data on the prevalence of asthma with cannabis use, the researchers reviewed data from over 30,000 individuals ages 12 and older to provide more research in this area (1). The study, titled “Cannabis use and the prevalence of current asthma among adolescents and adults in the United States,” was published in the journal Preventative Medicine in December 2023 (1).

The researchers analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2020, adjusting for demographics and cigarette smoking (1). They also examined the effect of frequency of use and of blunt use (1).

Analysis from our sister publication Patient Care states (2):

• Among individuals who reported any past 30-day cannabis use, current asthma prevalence was higher (9.8%) than among those who did not (7.1%), translating to a 43% increase in the odds of current asthma among the former group vs the latter.
• Among study participants who reported using cannabis on 20 to 30 of the past 30 days, the odds of current asthma increased to 73% compared to those who reported no use
• The odds of asthma in persons who reported using blunts (cannabis smoked in a hollowed-out cigar) in the past 30 days was more than 2-fold, according to the findings
• Those with only 6 to 19 days of past 30-day blunt use were significantly more likely to have current asthma

Read the original article from Patient Care for more analysis and results: https://www.patientcareonline.com/view/use-of-cannabis-linked-to-high-risk-of-prevalent-asthma-new-findings

References

1. Goodwin RD, Zhou C, Silverman KD, Rastogi D, Borrell LN. Cannabis use and the prevalence of current asthma among adolescents and adults in the United States. Prevent Med. 2024;179:107827. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107827
2. Halsey, G. Use of cannabis linked to high risk of prevalent asthma: New findings https://www.patientcareonline.com/view/use-of-cannabis-linked-to-high-risk-of-prevalent-asthma-new-findings (accessed Feb 8, 2024).