Reduced Risk of Alcohol‐Induced Pancreatitis With Cannabis Use

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Pancreatitis is an increasingly common clinical condition that causes significant morbidity and mortality. Cannabis use causes conflicting effects on pancreatitis development. We conducted a larger and more detailed assessment of the impact of cannabis use on pancreatitis.
We analyzed data from 2012 to 2014 of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project—Nationwide Inpatient Sample discharge records of patients 18 years and older. We used the International Classification of Disease, Ninth Edition codes, to identify 3 populations: those with gallstones (379,125); abusive alcohol drinkers (762,356); and non‐alcohol‐non‐gallstones users (15,255,464). Each study population was matched for cannabis use record by age, race, and gender, to records without cannabis use. The estimation of the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of having acute and chronic pancreatitis (AP and CP) made use of conditional logistic models.
Concomitant cannabis and abusive alcohol use were associated with reduced incidence of AP and CP (aOR: 0.50 [0.48 to 0.53] and 0.77 [0.71 to 0.84]). Strikingly, for individuals with gallstones, additional cannabis use did not impact the incidence of AP or CP. Among non‐alcohol‐non‐gallstones users, cannabis use was associated with increased incidence of CP, but not AP (1.28 [1.14 to 1.44] and 0.93 [0.86 to 1.01]).
Our findings suggest a reduced incidence of only alcohol‐associated pancreatitis with cannabis use.
Inflammation of the pancreas known as pancreatitis is a serious disease with a high mortality rate. The major causes of pancreatitis include unhealthy alcohol drinking, obstruction, infections, drugs and genetic predisposition. Current treatment options for pancreatitis are not very effective. Our novel study assessed the impact of cannabis use and the prevalence of pancreatitis amongst hospitalized individuals over the age of 18‐years. We reveal that cannabis use was associated with reduced prevalence of alcohol‐associated pancreatitis and not pancreatitis from other causes.