Posted on 11/15/2022 1:13:02 PM PST by Red Badger
A new study has revealed that marijuana smokers have a higher rate of emphysema and airway diseases compared to cigarette smokers.
Researchers have found marijuana smokers have a higher rate of emphysema and airway diseases compared to cigarette smokers. The findings, from the University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital, will be published today (November 15) in the journal Radiology.
In the study, the chest CT examinations of 56 marijuana smokers, 57 non-smokers, and 33 tobacco-only smokers between 2005 and 2020 were analyzed. The investigators determined higher rates of paraseptal emphysema (PSE) and airway inflammatory changes, such as bronchiectasis, bronchial wall thickening, and mucoid impaction, in the marijuana smokers.
Airway Changes in Marijuana and Tobacco Smoker
Airway changes in a 66-year-old male marijuana and tobacco smoker. Contrast-enhanced (A) axial and (B) coronal CT images show cylindrical bronchiectasis and bronchial wall thickening (arrowheads) in multiple lung lobes bilaterally in a background of paraseptal (arrows) and centrilobular emphysema. Credit: Radiological Society of North America
Giselle Revah is a radiologist and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine who was searching for answers on the effect of marijuana on the lungs and its health implications. This was especially important, as there was little information available in the current literature since marijuana only became legal in Canada in 2018.
“I can tell if someone is a heavy or a long-time cigarette smoker when I look at a CT scan. With marijuana being the second most inhaled substance after tobacco, I started wondering: What does marijuana inhalation look like on a CT scan? Would I be able to tell if someone was a marijuana smoker, is it different from cigarette smoke?” says Revah, a radiologist at The Ottawa Hospital, where the research was conducted.
Pulmonary Emphysema in Marijuana and Tobacco Smokers
Pulmonary emphysema in (A, B) marijuana and (C, D) tobacco smokers. (A) Axial and (B) coronal CT images in a 44-year-old male marijuana smoker show paraseptal emphysema (arrowheads) in bilateral upper lobes. (C) Axial and (D) coronal CT images in a 66-year-old female tobacco smoker with centrilobular emphysema represented by areas of centrilobular lucency (arrowheads). Credit: Radiological Society of North America
“What’s unique about this study is that it there hasn’t been anything comparing the imaging findings in tobacco smokers to marijuana smokers before. In fact, there is a lack of imaging research in marijuana, probably because it’s still illegal in many parts of the world, and in many U.S. states, which is why I think we were the first to do a project like this.”
Despite the small sample size, Revah’s findings suggest that marijuana smokers saw additional effects on the lungs above tobacco alone, including more instances of large and small airway diseases.
“We’ve identified an association between marijuana smoking and damage to both the small and the large airways,” she said. “We still need more research before we can affect policy change. We need larger, more robust prospective studies with more patients to confirm it.”
Reference: “Chest CT Findings in Marijuana Smokers” by Luke Murtha, Paul Sathiadoss, Jean-Paul Salameh, Matthew D. F. Mcinnes and Giselle Revah, 15 November 2022, Radiology. DOI: 10.1148/radiol.212611
“Yes, I think our side is surrendering in various ways”
I was taught to never surrender my command while it still had the means to resist. One old fart sitting alone in his house has no means to resist squat. I served. I’ve voted. I’ve done my full measure of civic duty, and it didn’t mean squat. It’s not so much surrender as a recognition of reality. There’s no cavalry coming.
“Ever seen the amounts of resin left in a roach.”
and then there’s that disgustingly nasty sludgy water in a water pipe ...
I know many FReepers hate Disney, but the current Andor series shows how to create a rebellion from the inside.
A few days after Saddam invaded Kuwait, I went down to the Marine Recruiter and signed up. My country was going to war, and I wanted to volunteer to do my part. My ancestors came over from Ireland in 1776 to enlist and do their part. Show me a flag to serve under to fight for freedom and decency, and even at my age, I’d sign my name on the line. My ancestor’s maternal grandfather came to enlist in 1776, too. And got a pension from Congress for his services. I’m not much for skulduggery and sowing anarchy, nor for subversion and acts that might be considered terrorist.
As a person who smoked 3-4 packs of cigarettes for 55 years and now has COPD as a result, I strongly urge anyone smoking anything to quit.
Yes, quit cold turkey. The first 3 or 4 days are hell as your body gets rid of the nicotine and other chemicals. But after that, the need to smoke is largely the habit haunting you. After 2 or 3 weeks the habit will begin to wane.
I sincerely wish I had done this sooner as that would have reduced the COPD.
Nicotine is a powerfully addictive drug. It has been 23 years since I smoked a cigarette and I still want one every day.
Quit smoking is really tough. I was on a fly in fishing trip many moons ago. We got a knock on the door one night during very bad weather conditions. The person knocking on the door travelled 30+ miles up the river system in awful weather conditions looking for a pack of smokes. I was smoker at the time and charged him the going rate for Canadian smokes. His gratitude was immense and off he went...
Every time I went into the field, 2 cartons of smokes went into my pack. Smart guys who didn’t smoke, would pack cartons as well, to sell to the smokers.
What really ticks me off at myself, is I had the benefit of a 13 week forced detox on Parris Island to get me off the habit. In fact, it wasn’t until a few weeks in, laying in the rack, when I realized I hadn’t had a smoke since reporting to MEPS. I’d been too stressed out to even miss them or think about them. Then, I graduated Boot Camp, a couple fraternity brothers drove down for the graduation, and drove me back up to a....fraternity party. I took my first swig of beer, and I was cadging smokes from people.
Showing my age here. I smoked like crazy on ship and shore during the early 80’s...
And cans of dip for when we were tactical or on our vehicles and couldn’t smoke....
Also smoking wasn’t an issue at the time. Being obese was considered a major issue at the time...
Heh. A guy in my Dad’s squadron was seriously into weight lifting. He had to have his shoulders measured periodically to ensure he could fit through the ejection hatch without his arms being ripped off. And he was constantly getting Fat Boy program warnings, despite the Flight Surgeon repeatedly telling the USAF that he had no measurable body fat...
True story. I worked with a Navy Vietnam vet. He was closing in on 300 pounds after 18 years of service. The Navy sent him off to the fat’s man club. He lost 100 lbs. He came back to duty as a slim mean fighting machine. He put on a hundred pounds after returning to duty. He ran out the clock an was able to retire...
>>Of course I also remember a sizable cadre on FR who claimed neither were connected to health problems.<<
Say, where is Noblefree, anyway?
I wanted to repeat my chorus-refrain of:
The history of Marijuana hasn’t been written yet...
smoke is smoke
My ear, nose and throat doctor told me vaping is worse than smoking tobacco. Yes, something is combusted, the nicotine and other chemicals held by the vape. Doctors are also finding metal flakes in the lungs of vapers.
I quit smoking 36 years ago. Stayed quit for several months. Started back when my ex-wife started pitching a fit when I got engaged to the second wife. She had me in court every month, sometimes twice a month, for eight months. Talk about stress!
I had a septoplasty (deviated septum) and had to quit smoking until the surgery healed.
WORST TWO WEEKS OF MY LIFE!!
I’m smoking again but not as much.
You’re confused. There is no nicotine in marijuana to combust. And MJ vapes operate at a much cooler temperature than tobacco vapes.
Not confused at all.
I was talking about vapes as replacement for cigarettes. They do contain nicotine.
I’ve known a lot of potheads in my time and not one ever developed emphysema
I posted this comment on a gun owners’ board earlier:
As a doctor it hasn’t gone beyond my notice how many patients I’ve seen who smoke weed and have “asthma,” “chronic bronchitis,” or overt emphysema/COPD.
It’s an epidemic out there, and the NORML types have all been insisting for decades marijuana is GOOD for treating bronchitis, that it’s not harmful.
I heard that crap growing up between Florida and California and, from innumerable patients on vents, barrel-chested blue-bloaters and pink puffers begging for a nebulizer, steroids, a Zpak and a work note who smelled like a cannabis dispensary.
“But I don’t smoke, Doctor… well, some pot (herb, weed).”
yeah.
”dUdE, Big pHaRmA LiEs! At lEAsT iT’s nOt AlCoHoL, dErP!”
”A little poison now and then makes for pleasant dreams. A lot, in the end, makes for a pleasant death.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
Pick your poison.
Some naysayer (doper probably) replied “you do you.” and a comment to the effect that reloading/handloading ammunition exposes us to lead toxicity.
Nonsense. That’s just lies from Big Ammo who doesn’t want us rolling our own.
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