A new study shows that cannabis users have lower rates of severe COVID-19 infections and experience fewer serious consequences such as death or lengthy hospital stays when they get the virus.
“Cannabis users had better outcomes and mortality compared with non-users,” says the report, authored by researchers at Northwell Health in New York. “The beneficial effect of cannabis use,” it adds, “may be attributed to its immunomodulatory effects.”
The study, published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, looked at data from the National Inpatient Sample Database, which tracks hospital admissions. Patients admitted for a COVID diagnosis were divided into cannabis user and non-user groups, and they were also matched in an effort to account for differences in age, race, gender and other comorbidities.
“On initial analysis, cannabis users had significantly lower rates of severe COVID-19 infection, intubation, ARDS [acute respiratory distress syndrome], acute respiratory failure, severe sepsis with multiorgan failure, mortality, and shorter length of hospital stay,” the paper says. “After 1:1 matching, cannabis use was associated with lower rates of severe COVID-19 infection, intubation, ARDS, acute respiratory failure, severe sepsis with multiorgan failure, mortality, and shorter length of hospital stay.”
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