Researchers have claimed that marijuana use may result in cardiovascular-related complications - even death - among young and middle-aged adults.
Emilie Jouanjus, Pharm.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and a medical faculty member at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse in Toulouse, France, said in prior research, they identified several remarkable cases of cardiovascular complications as the reasons for hospital admission of young marijuana users.
Researchers analyzed serious cardiovascular-related complications following marijuana use that was reported to the French Addictovigilance Network in 2006-10. They identified 35 cases of cardiovascular and vascular conditions related to the heart, brain and limbs.
Among their findings:
Most of the patients were male, average age 34.3 years.
Nearly 2 percent (35 of the 1,979) marijuana-related complications were cardiovascular complications.
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Of the 35 cases, 22 were heart-related, including 20 heart attacks; 10 were peripheral with diseases related to arteries in the limbs; and three were related to the brain's arteries.
The percentage of reported cardiovascular complications more than tripled from 2006 to 2010.
Nine patients, or 25.6 percent, died.
The study has been published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.