• Br J Gen Pract · Feb 2015

    Observational Study

    Cannabis, tobacco smoking, and lung function: a cross-sectional observational study in a general practice population.

    • John Macleod, Roy Robertson, Lorraine Copeland, James McKenzie, Rob Elton, and Peter Reid.
    • School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol.
    • Br J Gen Pract. 2015 Feb 1; 65 (631): e89e95e89-95.

    BackgroundHealth concerns around cannabis use have focused on the potential relationship with psychosis but the effect of cannabis smoking on respiratory health has received less attention.AimTo investigate the association between tobacco-only smoking compared with tobacco plus cannabis smoking and adverse outcomes in respiratory health and lung function.Design And SettingThe design was cross-sectional with two groups recruited: cigarette smokers with tobacco pack-years; cannabis smokers with cannabis joint-years. Recruitment occurred in a general practice in Scotland with 12 500 patients.MethodExposures measured were tobacco smoking (pack-years) and cannabis smoking (joint-years). Cannabis type (resin, herbal, or both) was recorded by self-report. Respiratory symptoms were recorded using NHANES and MRC questionnaires. Lung function was measured by spirometry (FEV1/FVC ratio).ResultsParticipants consisted of 500 individuals (242 males). Mean age of tobacco-only smokers was 45 years; median tobacco exposure was 25 pack-years. Mean age of cannabis and tobacco smokers was 37 years; median tobacco exposure was 19 pack-years, rising to 22.5 when tobacco smoked with cannabis. Although tobacco and cannabis use were associated with increased reporting of respiratory symptoms, this was higher among those who also smoked cannabis. Both tobacco and cannabis users had evidence of impaired lung function but, in fully adjusted analyses, each additional joint-year of cannabis use was associated with a 0.3% (95% confidence interval = 0.0 to 0.5) increase in prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.ConclusionIn adults who predominantly smoked resin cannabis mixed with tobacco, additional adverse effects were observed on respiratory health relating to cannabis use.© British Journal of General Practice 2015.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…