Marijuana and the lung: hysteria or cause for concern?
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Ribeiro, Luis
Ind, Philip W
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Increasing cannabis use and legalisation highlights the paucity of data we have on the safety of cannabis smoking for respiratory health. Unfortunately, concurrent use of tobacco among marijuana smokers makes it difficult to untangle individual effect of marijuana smoking. Chronic cannabis only smoking has been shown in large cohort studies to reduce forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity via increasing forced vital capacity in chronic use contrary to the picture seen in tobacco smoking. The cause of this is unclear and there are various proposed mechanisms including respiratory muscle training secondary to method of inhalation and acute anti-inflammatory effect and bronchodilation of cannabis on the airways. While cannabis smoke has been shown to increase symptoms of chronic bronchitis, it has not been definitively shown to be associated with shortness of breath or irreversible airway changes. The evidence surrounding the development of lung cancer is less clear; however, preliminary evidence does not suggest association. Bullous lung disease associated with marijuana use has long been observed in clinical practice but published evidence is limited to a total of 57 published cases and only one cross-sectional study looking at radiological changes among chronic users which did not report any increase in macroscopic emphysema. More studies are required to elucidate these missing points to further guide risk stratification, clinical diagnosis and management.
Date Issued
2018-09-01
Date Acceptance
2018-08-01
Citation
Breathe, 2018, 14 (3), pp.196-205
ISSN
2073-4735
Publisher
European Respiratory Society
Start Page
196
End Page
205
Journal / Book Title
Breathe
Volume
14
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2018 ERS. Breathe articles are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000443335700007&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Respiratory System
NON-TOBACCO CIGARETTES
YOUNG-ADULTS
CANNABIS USE
RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS
PULMONARY-FUNCTION
SMOKING
POPULATION
SMOKERS
EXPOSURE
HEALTH
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2018-08-31