India, March 19 -- Two new studies found that cannabis use is linked to a higher risk of heart attacks, even among young and otherwise healthy individuals. The findings, based on a large-scale retrospective study of more than 4.6 million people, were published in JACC Advances.
"Asking about cannabis use should be part of clinicians' workup to understand patients' overall cardiovascular risk, similar to asking about smoking cigarettes," said Dr. Ibrahim Kamel, the study's lead author and clinical instructor at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.
All participants involved in the study were under 50 and had no significant cardiovascular conditions at the start of the study. Their blood pressure, low-density lipop...