Background: In a cross-sectional study using data from Exam 6 (2016–2018) in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a prospective cohort study of men and women aged 45–84 years who were free of clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) at the time of study enrollment (n = 6,814), CMCR investigators Dr. Jamie Corroon and Igor Grant, along with other UCSD researchers Drs. Ryan Bradley and Matt Allison, studied the relationship between regular cannabis smoking and blood pressure and hypertension.

Results: The study sample included 3,255 participants, 7.4% (n = 241) of whom reported a history of regular cannabis smoking of at least once per month. The average age was 74 years (range: 59–99 years), with an almost equal distribution across sexes. Non-Hispanic White participants comprised the largest portion of the sample (39.9%).

Importantly, no associations were found between a history of regular cannabis smoking, the duration or recency of smoking, and either systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP), or pulse (PP) pressure, or the prevalence of hypertension.

None of these associations were modified by factors such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, or cigarette smoking.

In addition, the absence of associations found in the overall sample was largely mirrored in two subgroups: those without a history of either myocardial infarction or stroke and those not taking antihypertensive medications. Therefore, these results remain robust despite the possibility of increased medical intervention.

Conclusion: In a cohort of racially and ethnically diverse older adults with a high prevalence of hypertension, no evidence of increased risk due to regular cannabis smoking was found for either blood pressure or hypertension.

Read the full study here.

Citation: Corroon J, Bradley R, Allison MA and Grant I (2024) Blood pressure and hypertension in older adults with a history of regular cannabis use: findings from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Front. Cardiovasc. Med. 11:1432923