Staying Healthy
Cannabis use disorder may raise surgical risks
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- Reviewed by Toni Golen, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Women's Health Watch; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing; Contributor
Regular cannabis users may have higher risks of experiencing complications before, during, and after surgery, a new analysis suggests.
For the study, published online July 5, 2023, by JAMA Surgery, researchers analyzed more than 62,000 hospitalizations among adults (average age 53, 44% women) for major elective surgeries in the United States from 2016 to 2019. A group of 6,211 surgical patients with cannabis use disorder — defined as continued cannabis use despite health or social problems — was compared with the same number of patients without the disorder. The researchers found that patients with cannabis use disorder were about 20% more likely to experience a significant complication around the time of surgery, such as heart attack, acute kidney injury, stroke, breathing difficulties, blood clots, and hospital-acquired infections.
Cannabis use is increasingly perceived as harmless as it becomes legal in more U.S. states, but about three in 10 users develop cannabis use disorder. Patients should routinely be screened for this problem before surgery to help avert preventable complications, the study authors said.
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About the Author
Maureen Salamon, Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch
About the Reviewer
Toni Golen, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Women's Health Watch; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing; Contributor
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