When compared to the general population, individuals treated medically (hospital / ER) for a cannabis related issue have nearly a 4-fold increased risk of developing an anxiety disorder during the next 3-years. Within this same group, younger males were at greatest risk for developing an anxiety disorder by over 5-fold.
These are among some of the findings of researchers (Myran, D. et.al.) out of Ontario Canada. This study examined medical records in Ontario Canada from 2008 – 2019 for individuals without prior anxiety disorder (N=12,099,144) and who had a hospital visit due to a cannabis related incident (N=34,822). This data set accounts for medical treatments, outpatient data and hospital admissions for an estimated 97 precent of the population of the Canadian providence of Ontario.
According to the authors, “We found that individuals with an ED visit for cannabis use were at over 3-fold increased risk of having an incident ED visit, hospitalization or outpatient visit for an anxiety disorder within 3-years of the visit relative to the general population.” They further cited that once they excluded persons with a prior history of mental health issues or substance use disorders (SUD), a cannabis related ED visit was associated to a 9-fold risk of requiring treatment for an anxiety disorder.
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Photo: Unsplash.com/ Spratt, A.