Marijuana smoking is not associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, according to a newly released study.
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles looked at participants who smoke or have smoked tobacco cigarettes and divided them into three groups: current, former, or never smokers.
The study authors said limited data are available on the impact of marijuana smoking on the development or progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in middle-aged or older adults with a variable history of cigarette smoking.
We compared [current marijuana smokers], [former marijuana smokers] AND [never marijuana smokers]and those with varying amounts of lifetime marijuana use. Mixed-effects linear regression models were used to analyze changes in spirometry, symptoms, health status, and radiographic metrics; Zero-inflated negative binomial models were used for exacerbation rates, the research team wrote.
Most participants were followed up for four years or more, according to the researchers, who wrote that incident COPD, respiratory symptoms, health status, radiographic extent of emphysema or air trapping, and exacerbations total or severe were not different between [current marijuana smokers] OR [former marijuana smokers] against [never marijuana smokers] or among those with any amount of lifelong marijuana use against [never marijuana smokers].
In their final analysis, the researchers wrote: In a 20 pack-year cohort of habitual tobacco smokers with established COPD or at risk of developing COPD followed for an average of more than 4 years, a current and/or previous smoking history of marijuana of any cumulative amount over the lifetime was not associated with a significantly deleterious impact on COPD progression. Among tobacco smokers in the same COPD-free cohort at enrollment, self-reported current and/or previous marijuana smoking, including heavy marijuana smoking, was not associated with an increased risk of subsequently developing COPD. However, in light of the limitations of our studies and previously published results that conflict with our findings, further studies with a larger sample size and longer follow-up duration specifically designed to evaluate this issue are needed. for a better understanding of the potential long-term effects of smoking marijuana in people with or at risk of developing COPD.
NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano touted the findings of the UCLA study, which was published this month in Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
These findings are consistent with decades of data that have found that cannabis smoke exposure is not associated with the same kind of deleterious lung impact as tobacco smoke exposure, Armentano said. They should be reassuring for both cannabis users and healthcare professionals, and should help guide future policies with respect to creating evidence-based public health messages and associated regulations.
NORML noted that the findings are consistent with those of previous studies which concluded that inhaling cannabis, even over the long term, is not positively associated with COPD, lung cancer or irreversible airway damage, and added that the Use of vaporization technology, which heats budding cannabis to a set temperature below the flash point, is associated with reduced exposure to toxic gases and has been identified as a safe and effective cannabis delivery device in clinical trial.
In one of the studies cited by NORML, researchers from Great Britain in 2018 said that the available literature does not support an association between exposure to cannabis smoke and the occurrence of COPD, emphysema, lung cancer, shortness of breath or irreversible airway damage, although they identified a link between inhaling marijuana and more frequent coughing, sputum production, wheezing, and chronic bronchitis, although they acknowledged that these symptoms largely cease after you quit .
The long-term respiratory effects of cannabis differ from traditional smoking, the researchers wrote, as cited by NORML. [C]annabis smoke does not appear to be carcinogenic.
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