Associations Between Cannabis Use and Physical Health Problems in Early Midlife: A Longitudinal Comparison of Persistent Cannabis vs Tobacco Users.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

After major policy changes in the United States, policymakers, health care professionals, and the general public seek information about whether recreational cannabis use is associated with physical health problems later in life.

Objective

To test associations between cannabis use over 20 years and a variety of physical health indexes at early midlife.

Design, setting, and participants

Participants belonged to a representative birth cohort of 1037 individuals born in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1972 and 1973 and followed to age 38 years, with 95% retention (the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study). We tested whether cannabis use from ages 18 to 38 years was associated with physical health at age 38, even after controlling for tobacco use, chi

SUBMITTER: Meier MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4936934 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature