Odds of respiratory-related ED visits, hospitalizations not higher among cannabis users

Researchers for a new study found no significant association between cannabis use and respiratory-related ED visits or hospitalizations, but greater risk for morbidity, all-cause ED visit or hospitalization among cannabis users.

“There is a paucity of data on the association between cannabis smoking and acute respiratory illness,” Nicholas T. Vozoris, BSc, MHSc, MD, FRCPC, assistant professor in the department of medicine at the University of Toronto and staff respirologist at St. Michael’s Hospital at Unity Health, Toronto, and colleagues wrote in BMJ Open Respiratory Research.

The retrospective, population-based cohort study included 35,114 individuals who reported using cannabis in the past year (n = 18.3%; mean age, 32.2 years; 38.8% women) or had no cannabis use (n = 81.7%; mean age, 40.2 years; 58.6% women). Researchers linked health survey and health administrative data for residents aged 12 to 65 years living in Ontario, Canada, from 2009 to 2015. Researchers assessed respiratory-related and all-cause ED visits or hospitalizations and all-cause mortality up to 12 months post-index date. Three-quarters of individuals who used cannabis were propensity-score matched with 10,395 controls.

Researchers reported no significant difference in the odds of respiratory-related ED visits or hospitalizations between those who used cannabis and those who did not (OR = 0.91; 95% CI, 0.77-1.09). In addition, researchers observed no significant difference in all-cause mortality (OR = 0.99; 95% CI, 0.49-2.02).

Individuals who used cannabis had significantly higher odds of all-cause ED visits or hospitalizations (OR = 1.22; 95% CI, 1.13-1.31) compared with controls.