Recent research from Australia studied “Sudden Cardiac Death” (SCD) data and autopsy toxicology results in persons aged 18 and older, finding that cannabis was the most common illicit drug detected.
In this 2-year study (2019-2021) researchers identified 1,378 persons that suffered an “out of hospital cardiac arrest”. Of those, 523 deceased persons had an autopsy performed to include drug toxicology testing. 170 of these individuals had a positive drug test result with marijuana being the most common illicit drug detected in 106 cases.
Researchers note that in Australia the annual mortality rate from SCD is at nearly 90% with illicit drug use being the most common “non-cardiac” cause of out of hospital cardiac arrests in young adults. Marijuana use and its effect on the body has been associated to cardiac arrhythmia, infarctions and SCD.
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Photo: unsplash.com/Chehov, J.