5% and 19% of adults 45+ treated for cannabis in acute care were diagnosed with dementia in 5–10 years.

Risk of Dementia in Individuals With Emergency Department Visits or Hospitalizations Due to Cannabis
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Examining Dementia Risk After Acute Cannabis Care
“Long-term and heavy cannabis use has been associated with memory problems in midlife along with changes in brain structure associated with dementia,” says Dr. Daniel Myran, a Canada Research Chair in Social Accountability at the University of Ottawa, ICES Adjunct Scientist, Investigator at the Bruyère Health Research Institute, and Associate Scientist at The Ottawa Hospital. “We set out to estimate the risk of being diagnosed with dementia in a group of people whose cannabis use resulted in a visit to the emergency room or required a hospitalization for treatment.”‘Individuals hospitalized for #cannabis-related acute care showed a moderately lower risk of #dementia compared to those hospitalized for alcohol-related acute care.’

The study included 6 million adults aged 45 years or older from Ontario, Canada, who had no history of dementia when they entered the study cohort between 2008 and 2021. The individuals were followed until 2022. 




Health data held at ICES were used to compare new diagnoses of dementia for individuals with patterns of cannabis use that required acute care, defined as a visit to the emergency department (ED) or hospitalization. They were compared to three groups: 1) individuals with an all-cause acute care visit; 2) the general population; and 3) individuals with acute care due to alcohol use.
Key Findings:
- Over the study 16,275 (0.3%) individuals aged 45 years or older had acute care due to cannabis, and 60% were male.
- The annual rate of people over 45 with a first-time acute care visit for cannabis use increased over five-fold over the study period from 353 (6.9 per 100,000 individuals) in 2008 to 2,508 (37.6 per 100,000 individuals) in 2021. Increases were even larger in individuals 65+ years (26.7-fold increase).
The authors make two cautions about the study findings. First, while they observed an association between patterns of cannabis use severe enough to lead to an acute healthcare visit they did not examine patterns of cannabis use that did not require acute medical care. Second, the findings do not show that cannabis use causes dementia.
While evidence on the association between cannabis use and dementia continues to increase, the authors highlight potential mechanisms through which cannabis might result in dementia.
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"While we collectively need more research to better understand potential risks of regular cannabis use on cognition and dementia, we hope these findings can inform discussion between patients and healthcare providers,” says Myran.
- Risk of Dementia in Individuals With Emergency Department Visits or Hospitalizations Due to Cannabis - (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/article-abstract/2832249)
Source-Eurekalert