Smoking Marijuana May Be Worse for Lungs Than Smoking Cigarettes

Airway irritation and emphysema are extra widespread in marijuana people who smoke than cigarette people who smoke, in keeping with new analysis.

Emphysema Extra Frequent in Marijuana People who smoke Than Cigarette People who smoke

In accordance with new analysis, airway irritation and emphysema are extra widespread in marijuana people who smoke than cigarette people who smoke. Investigators mentioned the distinction could also be because of the manner that marijuana is smoked and the truth that marijuana smoke enters the lungs unfiltered. The analysis examine was revealed on November 15 in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Marijuana is the most-commonly smoked substance after tobacco and probably the most broadly used psychoactive substances on the earth. Amid the legalization of leisure marijuana in Canada and lots of states within the U.S., its use has elevated considerably lately. With the rising use, there may be an pressing want for info on marijuana’s results on the lungs, one thing that’s presently missing.

“We all know what cigarettes do to the lungs,” mentioned examine writer Giselle Revah, M.D., a cardiothoracic radiologist and assistant professor on the College of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada. “There are well-researched and established findings of cigarette smoking on the lungs. Marijuana we all know little or no about.”

To seek out out extra, Dr. Revah and colleagues in contrast chest CT outcomes from 56 marijuana people who smoke with these of 57 non-smoking controls and 33 tobacco-only people who smoke.

Three-quarters of the marijuana people who smoke had emphysema, a lung illness that causes problem with respiratory, in contrast with 67% of the tobacco-only people who smoke. Solely 5% of the non-smokers had emphysema. Paraseptal emphysema, which damages the tiny ducts that hook up with the air sacs within the lungs, was the predominant emphysema subtype in marijuana people who smoke in comparison with the tobacco-only group.

Airway modifications in a 66-year-old male marijuana and tobacco smoker. Distinction-enhanced (A) axial and (B) coronal CT photographs present cylindrical bronchiectasis and bronchial wall thickening (arrowheads) in a number of lung lobes bilaterally in a background of paraseptal (arrows) and centrilobular emphysema. Credit score: Radiological Society of North America

Airway irritation was additionally extra widespread in marijuana people who smoke than non-smokers and tobacco-only people who smoke. The identical was true for gynecomastia, a situation of enlarged male breast tissue as a consequence of a hormone imbalance. Gynecomastia was present in 38% of the marijuana people who smoke, in contrast with simply 11% of the tobacco-only people who smoke and 16% of the controls.

The researchers discovered related outcomes amongst age-matched subgroups, the place the charges of emphysema and airway irritation have been once more larger within the marijuana people who smoke than the tobacco-only people who smoke.

There was no distinction in coronary artery calcification between age-matched marijuana and tobacco-only teams.

In accordance with Dr. Revah, the outcomes have been stunning, particularly contemplating that the sufferers within the tobacco-only group had an in depth smoking historical past.

Pulmonary emphysema in (A, B) marijuana and (C, D) tobacco people who smoke. (A) Axial and (B) coronal CT photographs in a 44-year-old male marijuana smoker present paraseptal emphysema (arrowheads) in bilateral higher lobes. (C) Axial and (D) coronal CT photographs in a 66-year-old feminine tobacco smoker with centrilobular emphysema represented by areas of centrilobular lucency (arrowheads). Credit score: Radiological Society of North America

“The truth that our marijuana people who smoke—a few of whom additionally smoked tobacco—had extra findings of airway irritation/continual bronchitis means that marijuana has extra synergistic results on the lungs above tobacco,” she mentioned. “As well as, our outcomes have been nonetheless vital after we in contrast the non-age-matched teams, together with youthful sufferers who smoked marijuana and who presumably had much less lifetime publicity to cigarette smoke.”

There are probably a number of components that contribute to the variations between the 2 teams. Marijuana is smoked unfiltered, Dr. Revah famous, whereas tobacco cigarettes are often filtered. This leads to extra particulates reaching the airways from smoking marijuana.

As well as, marijuana is inhaled with an extended breath maintain and puff quantity than tobacco smoke.

“It has been prompt that smoking a marijuana joint deposits 4 instances extra particulates within the lung than a mean tobacco cigarette,” Dr. Revah mentioned. “These particulates are probably airway irritants.”

The upper incidence of emphysema may additionally be because of the manner that marijuana is smoked. Full inhalation with a sustained Valsalva maneuver, an try at exhalation in opposition to a closed airway, could result in trauma and peripheral airspace modifications.

Extra analysis is required, Dr. Revah mentioned, with bigger teams of individuals and extra knowledge on how a lot and the way usually individuals are smoking. Future analysis might additionally have a look at the influence of various inhalation methods, similar to by a bong, a joint, or a pipe.

“It might be attention-grabbing to see if the inhalation technique makes a distinction,” Dr. Revah mentioned.

For extra on this analysis, see Emphysema Extra Frequent in Marijuana People who smoke Than Cigarette People who smoke.

Reference: “Chest CT Findings in Marijuana People who smoke” by Luke Murtha, Paul Sathiadoss, Jean-Paul Salameh, Matthew D. F. Mcinnes and Giselle Revah, 15 November 2022, Radiology.
DOI: 10.1148/radiol.212611