Hospitalized marijuana users had high rates of psychiatric admissions and increasing cardiovascular events over five years

Retrospective analysis of the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) for 2010-2014, identifying hospitalizations with ICD-9 codes for recreational marijuana use. Descriptive statistics with discharge weights for national estimates. Multivariate regression for mortality predictors.

This is one of the largest analyses of hospitalization patterns among marijuana users. The finding that cardiovascular events are increasing among this population, and that cardiac events are strong predictors of in-hospital mortality, provides important safety signal data.

The increasing trend in cardiovascular events among marijuana users parallels both increasing cannabis use in the general population and increasing potency of available products. Whether this represents a causal effect of cannabis on cardiovascular health or reflects changing demographics of users and detection patterns requires further investigation.

The NIS captures associations, not causation. Marijuana use was identified by ICD-9 codes, which likely undercount actual users and may reflect documentation patterns rather than prevalence. The database cannot distinguish frequency, amount, or route of cannabis use. Confounders like tobacco use, obesity, and other substances were not fully separated from cannabis effects.