July 5, 2023 -- Smoking too much marijuana increases major health risks, around elective surgeries. a new study reports.
Complications include blood clots, stroke, kidney issues, and even death, says the report published in JAMA Surgery.
“Our findings complement previous studies that have identified significant associations between cannabis use disorders and perioperative complications,” wrote the authors at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. The perioperative period refers to the time from hospital admission through surgery, discharge and recovery.
The researchers looked at 2016-2019 data from the National Inpatient Sample database on more than 12,000 hospitalizations for 11 elective, noncardiac procedures. They ranged from hernia repair to colon surgery, from knee replacement to spinal fusion.
About half of the subjects had cannabis use disorder, a dependence on weed developed by 30% of pot smokers. The other half of the subjects did not have cannabis use disorder.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse defines dependence as when a person has food cravings or a lack of appetite, irritability, restlessness, and mood and sleep issues after quitting. It becomes an addiction when the person can’t quit using pot after it interferes with aspects of daily life.
Those with cannabis use disorder “were carefully matched with patients who did not,” CNN reported. “Compared with people who were not overly dependent or addicted to marijuana, those with cannabis use disorder were more likely to suffer complications from those surgeries.”
The difference was a 7.73% higher risk for People with the disorder had a 7.73% risk of perioperative morbidity and mortality compared to 6.57% for those without the disorder. That’s a significant difference, the study’s authors wrote. People with the disorder also had longer hospital stays and steeper bills.
“In the context of increasing cannabis use rates, our findings support preoperative screening for cannabis use disorder,” the authors wrote.