Research suggests that use of marijuana in the inpatient population is on the rise due to its ongoing legalization, acceptance, and availability. To investigate the effects of marijuana use in hospitalized adults with COPD, researchers assessed the prevalence, length of stay, and in-hospital mortality among such patients with or without marijuana abuse from the National Inpatient Sample from 2005-2014. The majority of COPD hospitalizations without marijuana use were aged 65-79 (43%), whereas the majority with marijuana use were aged 50-64 (60%). Mean length of stay was higher in those without marijuana use than in those with marijuana use (4.55 vs 3.69 days). Similarly, in-hospital mortality risk was lower in patients with marijuana use (odds ratio [OR], 0.624) than in those without. The younger age of those who admitted to marijuana use may have had an impact on in-hospital mortality rates. Whether the associations in the study were due to correlation rather than causation requires further study.
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Meeting Coverage
- ACC 2020The American College of Cardiology decided to cancel ACC.20/WCC due to COVID-19, which was scheduled to take place March 28-30 in Chicago. However, ACC.20/WCC Virtual Meeting continues to release cutting edge science and practice changing updates for cardiovascular professionals on demand and free through June 2020.
- ENDO: 2020ENDO 2020 Annual Conference has been canceled due to COVID-19. Here are highlights of emerging data that has still been released. Keep an eye out for ENDO Online 2020, which will take place from June 8 to 22.
- CROI 2020Every year, CROI hosts some of the world's leading experts in HIV research, who come to present exciting new data and drive forward the field of HIV/AIDS research. This year, due to COVID-19, CROI held their meeting virtually.