According to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal American Surgeon, there’s no evidence that cannabis use increases the risk of blood clots or alters coagulation-related biomarkers in adolescent and adult trauma patients.
For the study, researchers reviewed records of 302 patients admitted to a level one trauma center between October 2019 and December 2023, comparing outcomes for those who tested positive for cannabinoids with those who tested negative for both cannabis, other illicit drugs, and alcohol. The research team was affiliated with the Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.
The study population was primarily male (71.5%) and white (78.8%), with a median age of 46 and a median injury severity score of 17. Of the patients included, 76 tested positive for cannabis and 226 tested negative. After one-to-one propensity score matching, no significant differences were found in the rate of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Platelet counts were virtually identical between the two groups, and no differences were observed in coagulation profiles, mortality, complications, length of hospital stay, or discharge outcomes.
The findings suggest that cannabis use does not appear to increase the risk of blood clots or impact coagulation-related biomarkers in adolescent and adult trauma patients.
“This study failed to identify significant differences between coagulation-related biomarkers and VTE incidence of adolescent and adult, trauma patients who tested positive for cannabinoids vs those that tested negative for cannabinoids”, concludes the study.
For more information on this study, click here.
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