Abstract
Background
In recent years, the number of states that have legalized medical marijuana or retail
sales has increased, bringing potential changes of marijuana use pattern among the
general population. However, health effects of acute and chronic marijuana use on
many relevant health outcomes, including renal function, remain largely unexamined.
In this study, we aimed to assess the association between recent and past marijuana
use and renal function.
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional study among 13,995 US adults aged 18 to 59 years in
the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2014. We examined
associations between marijuana use and serum creatinine concentration, estimated glomerular
filtration rate (eGFR), and odds of having stage 2 or greater chronic kidney disease
using weighted multivariable linear regression.
Results
In the study population, 6483 were never users, 5499 were past users, and 2013 were
current users. Marijuana use did not have a significant association with serum creatinine,
eGFR, or odds of having stage 2 or greater chronic kidney disease. Serum creatinine
and eGFR had an increasing trend comparing past and current users with never users
that did not reach statistical significance. All associations remained unchanged in
the sensitivity analysis restricted to people without cardiovascular disease.
Conclusions
We did not observe any clinically significant association between current or past
self-reported marijuana use and measures of kidney function.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to The American Journal of MedicineAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Demographic trends among older cannabis users in the United States, 2006-13.Addiction. 2017; 112: 516-525
- Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.(Available at:)https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FFR1-2015/NSDUH-FFR1-2015/NSDUH-FFR1-2015.pdfDate accessed: September 16, 2017
- The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research.The National Academies Press, Washington, DC2017
- Triggering myocardial infarction by marijuana.Circulation. 2001; 103: 2805-2809
- Recent marijuana use and associations with exhaled nitric oxide and pulmonary function in adults in the United States.Chest. 2016; 149: 1428-1435
- One minute of marijuana secondhand smoke exposure substantially impairs vascular endothelial function.J Am Heart Assoc. 2016; 5: e003858
- Metabolic syndrome among marijuana users in the United States: an analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data.Am J Med. 2016; 129: 173-179
- The impact of marijuana use on glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance among US adults.Am J Med. 2013; 126: 583-589
- Cannabinoid receptor 1 is a major mediator of renal fibrosis.Kidney Int. 2015; 88: 72-84
- Cannabinoids and atherosclerotic coronary heart disease.Clin Cardiol. 2012; 35: 329-335
- Cannabinoid receptor 1 inhibition improves cardiac function and remodelling after myocardial infarction and in experimental metabolic syndrome.J Mol Med. 2013; 91: 811-823
- Expression of cannabinoid receptors in human kidney.Histol Histopathol. 2010; 25: 1133-1138
- Long-term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and renal function in older men: the veterans administration normative aging study.Environ Health Perspect. 2016; 124: 1353-1360
- Long-term exposure to air pollution and increased risk of membranous nephropathy in China.J Am Soc Nephrol. 2016; 27: 3739-3746
- National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.(Available at:)https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/about_nhanes.htmDate accessed: September 16, 2017
- National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES): MEC laboratory procedures manual.(Available at:)https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/2013-2014/manuals/2013_MEC_Laboratory_Procedures_Manual.pdfDate accessed: September 16, 2017
- Laboratory procedures manual, analyte: urinary albumin.(Available at:)https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/2013-2014/labmethods/ALB_CR_H_met_albumin.pdfDate accessed: September 27, 2017
- Laboratory procedures manual, analyte: creatinine.(Available at:)https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/2013-2014/labmethods/ALB_CR_H_MET_URINE_CREATINE.pdfDate accessed: September 27, 2017
- A new equation to estimate glomerular filtration rate.Ann Intern Med. 2009; 150: 604-612
- Using standardized serum creatinine values in the modification of diet in renal disease study equation for estimating glomerular filtration rate.Ann Intern Med. 2006; 145: 247-254
- Key concepts about age standardization.(Available at:)https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/tutorials/nhanes/nhanesanalyses/agestandardization/info1.htmDate accessed: September 16, 2017
- CKD stages.(Available at:)https://renal.org/information-resources/the-uk-eckd-guide/ckd-stages/Date accessed: September 16, 2017
- NKF KDOQI guidelines.(Available at:)https://www2.kidney.org/professionals/KDOQI/guideline_diabetes/guide1.htmDate accessed: September 27, 2017
- Analysis of Incomplete Multivariate Data.Chapman & Hall/CRC, London, UK1997
- The association among smoking, heavy drinking, and chronic kidney disease.Am J Epidemiol. 2006; 164: 263-271
- Risk of incident ESRD: a comprehensive look at cardiovascular risk factors and 17 years of follow-up in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study.Am J Kidney Dis. 2010; 55: 31-41
- Investigation of the relationship between serum levels of cotinine and the renal function in active and passive smokers.Ren Fail. 2011; 33: 475-479
- Association of cigarette smoking with albuminuria in the United States: the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Ren Fail. 2007; 29: 133-142
- Early kidney damage induced by subchronic exposure to PM2.5 in rats.Part Fibre Toxicol. 2016; 13: 68
- Reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) results in an increased risk of spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation in patients with large-artery atherosclerosis stroke.Curr Neurovasc Res. 2016; 13: 75-81
Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 29, 2017
Footnotes
Funding: None.
Conflicts of Interest: None.
Authorship: All authors had access to the data and a role in writing the manuscript.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
