(VORNews) – In a new study from Denmark, people with medical cannabis prescriptions are slightly more likely to develop atrial fibrillation within 180 days of beginning treatment.
According to the study, patients treated with medical cannabis were 0.8% more likely to develop new-onset atrial fibrillation in the first six months following treatment.
After 180 days, patients not taking medical cannabis had an increased risk of new-onset AFib of 0.4%. The federal government has approved medical cannabis for use in 38 states, the District of Columbia, and three territories as of April 2023. There are several European countries, such as the U.K., Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and others around the world, that now allow its legal medicinal use.
In the absence of treatment, atrial fibrillation, or AFib, is associated with more serious outcomes, including stroke, heart failure, and blood clots. Researchers compared data from 5,391 Danish people who used medical cannabis to relieve chronic pain with data from people who did not use cannabis.
Women constituted 63.2% of the participants, and their median age was 59. At six months, there was less than a 1% chance of developing AFib in both groups. Researchers found that patients with cardiometabolic disease and cancer experienced the greatest increase in AFib.
Medical Cannabis use after one year is associated with a lower risk
The association between medicinal cannabis usage and an increased risk of atrial fibrillation was most during the first six months but faded during the first year. Copenhagen University Hospital’s Department of Cardiology’s Dr. Anders Holt offered some potential answers as the study’s lead author.
He speculated that the differences might be less pronounced over a longer period of follow-up if the patient stopped taking the medication due to severe adverse effects. “It could be due to patients halting treatment during follow-up for other unknown reasons,” he added. Plus,
The overall picture may be less clear due to other complicating circumstances, as Dr. Holt also noted.
Cannabis increases AFib risk in young people
Dr. Holt stated that the results of his study are especially noteworthy because so little is known about the effects of medicinal cannabis. “But I don’t think there’s cause for serious concern about the health implications of this study because of its observational design and the small risk differences that were found,” he stated.
Dr. Holt tells the European Heart Journal in a news release that he doesn’t think “this research should make patients with chronic pain refrain from trying medical cannabis if other treatment has been inadequate.”
“This study should simply serve as a reminder that all medical treatment may carry the risk of side effects and that we should always make sure that benefits outweigh the possible risk,” Dr. Holt told Medical News Today.
Cardiologist and MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute medical director of the Structural Heart Program Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, who was not affiliated with the study, expressed concern over its findings.
A doubling of the danger, even if the absolute risk is tiny, was Dr. Chen’s statement. The fact that these patients are younger, in his view, shouldn’t be developing atrial fibrillation, is another source of concern for him.
Cannabis users and AFib
A medical cannabis patient may want to be aware of the following warning signs, according to Dr. Jayne Morgan, who was not involved in the study. “Symptoms of atrial fibrillation independent of any cause include palpitations, shortness of breath, fatigue, dizziness, and a rapid or irregular heartbeat.”
To that list, Dr. Chen added lightheadedness and fatigue.
Heart disease risk associated with recreational cannabis
Although there has been a dearth of clinical research on cannabis owing to its lengthy history of prohibition in many countries, more studies have looked at recreational cannabis than medicinal cannabis.
The first larger-scale cohort research to investigate cardiovascular adverse effects associated with medicinal cannabis prescriptions has never been conducted before, according to Dr. Holt.
If we want to make a difference, we need more research like this, Dr. Morgan remarked. Medical cannabis should be the subject of more rigorous research, according to Dr. Holt.
Dr. Chen stated that recreational cannabis use has been “linked to elevated risk of heart attack, particularly in younger individuals.” How cannabis affects the health of the elderly is one of the many unanswered questions at this time. ”
Cardiology patients with known cardiovascular disease tend to be older and more frequently encountered, so it’s important to take that into account,” Dr. Morgan noted. In addition, “been associated with an elevated risk of arrhythmia and acute coronary syndromes” was Dr. Holt’s commentary on recreational cannabis use.
The current study did find a correlation between medicinal cannabis and atrial fibrillation, but no such correlation with acute coronary syndrome, which is an intriguing finding.
How much medical cannabis should I take?
One of the challenging factors to monitor in the context of medicinal cannabis, according to Dr. Chen, is that “the medical model differs from that of prescribing a medication for a heart condition, in which physicians constantly observe patients closely for adverse effects and side effects.”
Dosing medical cannabis differs from administering known-quantity tablets or capsules to a patient regularly. Dr. Chen stated that his knowledge of the prescription process for medical cannabis is limited.
Nevertheless, he stated, “From what I understand, a significant number of patients can obtain a prescription for cannabis from a third party and have it filled elsewhere.” Furthermore, the current state of monitoring in the United States appears to differ significantly from that of a typical medication prescription.
Further information regarding administration and dosing, in addition to short-term and long-term adverse effects, was requested by Dr. Morgan. For instance, medicinal cannabis may be vaporized, inhaled, ingested, or applied.
“When conducting research, we attempt to compare apples to apples,” explained Dr. Chen. “If the dosage is administered “as required” and there is significant variation in the way the medication is administered, it becomes considerably more challenging to identify patterns.”
Dr. Morgan stated, “As medical cannabis use increases and the principle of avoiding harm prevails, more rigor and data will be required for physician prescribing guidance in this area, including whether reversible arterial vasospasm, endothelial inflammation, and possibly vasospasm exist.”
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