Women — but not men — who often smoke weed face a significantly higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to women who don’t use cannabis, a new study out of France finds.
Nearly 122,000 Brits were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their lifetime marijuana habits. The participants were divided into three groups — low users (they had smoked 10 times or less); moderate users (11-100 times); and heavy users (daily or near-daily use for at least a few months).
“Heavy cannabis users were more likely to be younger, report tobacco use, and show lower levels of alcohol use, hypertension, [high cholesterol], obesity, diabetes, high education, and high income,” the researchers reported.
Over the 13-year follow-up period, 2,375 deaths were recorded, including 1,411 from CVD. The leading cause of death globally, CVD includes heart attack, heart failure, heart arrhythmias, vascular disease, congenital heart defects, stroke and high blood pressure.
The researchers noted a “significant” link between heavy cannabis use and CVD death among women overall and women who currently use tobacco — but not among men. The findings were published Thursday in JAMA Network Open.
While the study authors stress that the association between death and cannabis use “remains unclear,” they theorized that the key chemicals in cannabis may contribute to inflammation and the narrowing and hardening of arteries. Increased exposure to carbon monoxide through pot smoking could be another contributing factor.
As for the increased risk of death only for women, animal studies have suggested that females are more sensitive to some acute effects of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.
Authors of the latest study called for more research on the topic, noting theirs was limited by participants reporting their own cannabis use, which wasn’t verified through urine or blood tests. Researchers also didn’t know the precise dosage of the cannabis the participants used and how they consumed it (vaping, etc).
The study comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that weed is the most popular illicit drug in the US. 52.5 million people — about 19% of Americans — used it at least once in 2021.
And new research finds that more people are expected to develop cardiovascular disease in the coming years as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity become more common.
