Neither recent nor lifetime cannabis use is associated with a higher prevalence of hypertension or high blood pressure among older adults, according to data published in the journal Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego assessed the relationship between cannabis smoking and systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), and hypertension in an ethnically diverse sample of 3,255 older adults (average age: 74).
“No associations were found between a history of regular cannabis smoking, duration, or recency of smoking, and either SBP, DBP, or PP, or the prevalence of hypertension,” researchers reported.
The study’s authors concluded: “[Other] longitudinal studies have also reported a lack of association between lifetime cannabis use and increased blood pressure and the incidence of hypertension. Taken together, these studies suggest that regular cannabis use is not associated with elevated blood pressure or hypertension.”
NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “The findings of this study are especially relevant because we are seeing rising rates of cannabis use among those ages 50 and older. These results ought to be reassuring to older adults who are increasingly turning to cannabis to manage age-related symptoms like chronic pain, anxiety, and sleep interruptions and who are finding that it improves their health-related quality of life.”
Prior research published by the same team of scientists in October concluded that people with a history of cannabis use don’t possess higher rates of atherosclerotic disease in older adulthood.
Data published last year in the journal Nature: Scientific Reports reported, “Lifetime heavy cannabis use was associated with decrease in both SBP [systolic blood pressure], DBP [diastolic blood pressure], and PP [pulse pressure] in both genders.”
The results of a recent placebo-controlled clinical trial reported that the use of oral CBD reduces ambulatory blood pressure in subjects suffering from either mild or moderate hypertension.
Survey data reported in 2022 found that 21 percent of Medicare recipients report consuming cannabis for therapeutic purposes.
The full text of the study, “Blood pressure and hypertension in older adults with a history of regular cannabis use: findings from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis,” appears in the journal Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine. Additional information is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Cannabis Use by Older Adult Populations.’
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