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smoke quite a little is often considered safe than smoke cigarettes , but a Modern field evoke thatmarijuanause may increase a person ’s peril of death from high blood force per unit area .
Over the two - decennium - long study catamenia , marijuana users , whose level and frequency of smoke was not assess in the subject field , had a more than threefold greater peril of die fromhypertensionthan nonusers . This increase in risk of infection was greater than that associate with cigaret smoke , the researchers enounce .
" livelihood for liberal marijuana use is partly due to claims that it is beneficial , and possibly not harmful , to health , " lead study author Barbara Yankey , a doctorial scholar of epidemiology and biometry at Georgia State University , said in a statement . " However , there is little inquiry on the impingement of marijuana use on cardiovascular and [ stroke ] mortality . " [ 25 Odd fact About Marijuana ]
The peril associated with smoking cigarette , on the other hand , are well establish , according to the field , published today ( Aug. 9 ) in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology . Studies linking heart disease destruction and cigarettes , for example , are " all-inclusive , " leading the research worker to hypothesize thatsmoking potwould be associated with a similar level of risk .
The study included more than 1,200 adults in the U.S. who had participated in the 2005 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey ( NHANES ) , a federal survey done annually to evaluate Americans ' dieting and health . As a part of the survey , the participants were ask if they had ever used marijuana and , if so , when they first tried the drug . The sketch also collected data oncigarette use .
Using data from 2011 from the National Center for Health Statistics , the researcher were able to determine if any of the participants in the NHANES subject had go during the study menses .
Using the two information sets , the researchers estimated the associations betweenmarijuana useand length of use with deaths from high blood pressure , eye disease and stroke .
At the end of the report period of time , 73 percent of the participant were still alive , the researchers found . Nearly 35 percent of them reported that they did not use marijuana or tobacco ; 21 per centum used only marijuana ( no tobacco ) ; 4 percent smoked cigarettes ( no marijuana ) ; 20 pct used both marijuana and tobacco ; 16 percent used marijuana presently and smoke cigarettes in the past times ; and about 5 percent did not use marijuana or tobacco currently but smoke cigarettes in the past tense .
The average continuance of marijuana use was 12 years , and the average duration of cigarette utilisation was 10 days .
The study find that , compared with the great unwashed who did n’t use marijuana , those who did had a 3.4 - fold expectant hazard of death from high blood pressure during the study stop . There were no statistically significant links between marijuana use and the risk of death fromheart diseaseor accident .
Yankey mark that the findings suggest that marijuana use " may carry even heavier consequences on the cardiovascular organization than that already demonstrate for butt smoke , " but she summate that gravid study are needed to confirm the results . [ Where Americans fume and Grow Marijuana ( Maps ) ]
The researchers acknowledged several limitations of the subject area . For example , the study assumed that marijuana use was continuous from the clip the sketch participants said they first tried the drug , but this may not be accurate .
Even so , the new findings are " not peculiarly surprising " and make sense in the linguistic context of previous studies onmarijuana smoke , say Dr. Charles Pollack , an emergency brake - medicine physician at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and the director of the university ’s Lambert Center for the Study of Medicinal Cannabis and Hemp . Pollack was not call for with the new survey .
But the discipline had some weaknesses , Pollack tell Live Science . For deterrent example , relying on study participants to account their ganja purpose can be " treacherous and inconsistent , " he said . In addition , " there are so many strain of [ marijuana ] out there , with no quality standards … making it tough to generalize " the effects , he added .
Pollack also mention that the study focalize on recreational marijuana use , " which is different from mostmedicinal cannabisuse . " Typically , marijuana from medical dispensary is of higher caliber , Pollack said , but in both case ( amateur and medicinal ) , " nothing in this space is tightly controlled . "
Indeed , the field writer wrote that they " are not challenge the potential medicative benefit of similar cannabis expression , " but added that the " unpaid use of marijuana should be approached with care . "
in the beginning published onLive Science .
