La Jolla, CA: People with a history of cannabis use do not possess higher rates of carotid artery calcification (CAC) in either middle age or older adulthood, according to data published in the journal Vascular Medicine. Carotid artery calcification is an established marker of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), which is linked to an elevated risk of heart attack and stroke.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, assessed the relationship between cannabis smoking and CAC in a representative cohort of 2,152 subjects between 45 and 84 years old.
Consistent with other studies, investigators determined, “In [this] racially and ethnically diverse cohort of older adults with a moderately high prevalence of carotid artery calcification, there were no statistically significant associations between a history of regular cannabis smoking, duration, or recency of cannabis smoking, and the prevalence of carotid calcified plaque.”
The study’s authors concluded: “The null findings reported herein are consistent with our previous research. … If smoking cannabis increases the risk of atherosclerotic disease, one would anticipate finding consistent evidence of adverse cardiac outcomes in human research. This is not the case.”
According to data published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the use of either alcohol or opioids is implicated in nearly 80 percent of all cardiovascular deaths related to substance use. By comparison, a history of cannabis use is associated with fewer than one percent of all substance use-related cardiovascular deaths.
Full text of the study, “Regular cannabis smoking and carotid artery calcification in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA),” appears in Vascular Medicine.