Puff, Puff, approve the medical invoice.
New research shows that visits to the emergency room and hospitalizations linked to cannabis consumption among older adults have embedded almost 27 times since Augustus.
Even more alarm: the study found that older people ending in acute care due to weed -related problems have up to 72% more likely to develop than their classmates who visited the hospital for other reasons or not.
Golden years become green
Althegh’s marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, 39 states and DC have legalized it for medical use, while 24 states, plus capital, allow adults aged 21 years or more illuminating recreationally.
As the Green Ola Barre La Nación, median and older adults have goths on cannabis fashion. A 2024 study found that 21% of people 50 and more have used marijuana in the last year, and 12% say they participate at least monthly.
For these adults, cannabis has a variety of purposes, even as helping, analgesics, mental health support and simply to relax and feel good, according to researchers at the University of Michigan.
Adults made their way to the emergency room
But lighting can mitigate brain health.
“The long -term and heavy cannabis uses the bone associated with the memory problems in the middle age along with the changes in the brain structure associated with dementia,” said Dr. Daniel Myran, co -author of the study and researcher at the University of Ottawa.
“We set out to estimate the risk of being diagnosed with dementia in a group of people whose use of cannabis results in a visit to the emergency room or required hospitalization for treatment.”
Myran and his colleagues analyzed the medical records of 6 million adults, 45 years or older in Ontario, Canada, who did not damage a history of dementia when the study.
Among them, 16,275 people with a history of cannabis use required acute attention, whether a visit or hospitalization, between 2008 and 2021.
Notable, the team discovered that the annual adult rate of more than 45 acute care for the first time for the use of cannabis fired more than five times during the study period, increasing from 6.9 per 100,000 in 2008 to 37.6 per 100,000 in 2021.
The increase was even more dramatic between those over 65, with its rate jumping from 0.65 per 100,000 in 2008 to 16,99 per 100,000 by 2021, or TK%
High stakes
The study also raised companies on a possible link between the use of cannabis and dementia.
The researchers discovered that 5% of adults of 45 years or more who sought treatment for problems related to cannabis in acute care were diagnosed with dementia within five years.
In marked contrast, only 1.3% of the general population and 3.6% of those seeking attention for other reasons developed dementia during the same period.
After adjusting for factors such as age, sex, income and other health conditions, the study found that cannabis users had a 23% higher risk of being diagnosed with dementia within five years compared to those who seek on the other hand.
Even more alarm, it was discovered that cannabis users had 72% more likely to develop dementia compared to the general population.
But there is a turn: the study also revealed that the risk of dementia in individuals with acute care for cannabis consumption was 31% lower in the next five years compared to those who sought treatment for alcohol -related problems.
Investigate power causes
Researchers are still working to understand how cannabis affects the brain.
“The regular use of cannabis could directly increase the risk of dementia through changes in brain structure,” said Dr. Colleen Webber, co -author of the study and scientific of Bruyère Health Research Institute.
“It is also possible that regular cannabis uses the risk of other risk factors established for dementia, including high blood pressure, head trauma and other injuries, and a greater risk of depression and social isolation,” he added.
While study findings are alarming, the authors noticed two key limitations.
First, although they identified a potential link between heavy cannabis and acute care visits, they did not examine the effects of the casual use of cannabis that did not require emergency treatment.
Secondly, the study does not prove that the use of regular cannabis or heavy cause dementia. Instead, the researchers said the findings raise questions that need greater exploration.