The Effect of Habitual Cannabis Smoking on Arterial Stiffness and Vascular Endothelial Function: A Preliminary Analysis
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Cannabis ranks globally as the most commonly used recreational drug, and both recreational and medicinal use have recently been legalized in numerous states and countries. The most common means by which cannabis is consumed recreationally is via smoking. Despite its prominent global use, a thorough understanding of the chronic cardiovascular effects of habitual consumption via smoking is lacking. Previous investigations have identified an association between cannabis use and accelerated vascular aging, and rodent models demonstrate impairments in vascular endothelial function following exposure to second‐hand cannabis smoke. Given these findings, it is likely that habitual cannabis smoking by humans results in central artery stiffening and/or decrements in vascular endothelial function; outcomes which are established risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The present work compared the carotid‐femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) and brachial artery reactive hyperemia flow‐mediated dilation (FMD) of habitual cannabis users (CU) and age/anthropometrically matched non‐users (NU). CU were defined by cannabis use a minimum of once per week for ≥3yr. cfPWV was measured using arterial pulse wave tonometry. The FMD protocol included a 1‐minute baseline period, a 5‐minute occlusion of the forearm, and a 3‐minute reperfusion period. FMD is reported as peak change in vessel diameter. CU (n=10, 7M, 3F) and NU (n=10, 6M, 4F) did not differ in age (CU: 21.7±0.4, NU: 21.5±1; p=0.9) nor BMI (CU: 24.2±0.6kg/m 2 , NU: 23.4±0.4kg/m 2 , p=0.6). Systolic blood pressure (CU: 111.8±6.8mmHg, NU: 113.3±2.5mmHg, p=0.7), diastolic blood pressure (CU: 68.3±1.4mmHg, NU: 70.3±2.4mmHg, p=0.5), and supine resting heart rate (CU: 65.6±1.8bpm, NU: 66.0±2.8bpm; p=0.9) were similar between groups. Peak FMD (CU: 5.9±0.9%, NU: 6.8±1.1%; p=0.6) was also similar between groups, as was 60 second shear rate area‐under‐curve (CU: 4547±510, NU:4450±572; p=0.9). Peak change in blood velocity (CU: 38.1±3.6cm/s, NU: 36.7±2.0cm/s; p=0.7) and peak change in blood flow (CU: 307±51mL/min, NU: 253±33mL/min; p=0.4) during the FMD test were similar between groups, indicating no differences in microvascular dilatory capacity. cfPWV was higher in CU than in NU (CU: 6.0±0.2m/s, NU: 5.4±0.2m/s; p=0.05). Although no differences in vascular endothelial function were observed in this analysis, an increased sample size will be necessary to confirm these findings. The present data does indicate that habitual cannabis smoking may be associated with increased arterial stiffness. Support or Funding Information This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada under Grant 03974.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".