BREAKING! Study Discovers That Regular Use Of Cannabis Can Lead To Increased Risk Of Overactive Bladder!

Cannabis News: A new study by researchers from the Nanjing Medical University - China involving data from the U.S. NHANES (U.S.National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) database has alarmingly found that regular use of cannabis increases the risk of overactive bladder issues.


 
Numerous research has only just begun on the medical value of marijuana (cannabis) and the possible health problems it can cause.
 
Past studies have shown that cannabis can relieve lower urinary tract symptoms, which can pose a significant public health burden.
 
The study team assessed the association between regular cannabis use and overactive bladder as part of low urinary tract symptoms utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2018.
 
The Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS) scale was used to define the presence of overactive bladder for each participant. Multivariate Logistic regression and ordinal logistic regression were used to analyze the association of cannabis use with the onset and severity of overactive bladder, respectively.
 
According to latest Cannabis News and usage data, approximately 24% of the U.S. population reported regular cannabis use. Compared with nonregular users, regular cannabis users were younger, thinner, more likely to be male, smokers, low-income, less educated, unmarried, and non-Hispanic white/black.
 
Alarmingly, multivariate logistic regression revealed that cannabis exposure may be an independent risk factor for overactive bladder (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.16-1.66). Ordinal logistic regression results showed that cannabis exposure was associated with the severity of overactive bladder (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.30-1.60). Moreover, all frequencies of regular use showed almost consistent effects on the onset and severity of overactive bladder.
 
The study findings concluded that regular cannabis use may increase the risk of overactive bladder.
 
The research tea warned that the study data do not support the evidence for the use of cannabinoids in the medical treatment of patients with overactive bladder, especially given the thorny health problems caused by cannabis.
 
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed American Journal of Medicine.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0002934322006672
 
In the last few years, medicinal and recreational cannabis use has increased in the United States due to its decriminalization and legalization in some states.
 
It was reported that as of December 2021, medicinal cannabis has been approved for commercialization in 36 U.S. states and the District of Columbia to treat various health conditions. Additionally, 18 states have legalized the recreational use of cannabis.
 
Worryingly, recent surveys indicate that about 49.6 million Americans over 12 years of age reported the use of cannabis in 2020 alone. However, the use of cannabis remains controversial due to discrepancies between its medicinal value and associated health problems.
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The trend of cannabis usage is growing in many other countries around the world as authorities start removing restrictions over its use including in countries like Thailand.
 
OAB or Overactive bladder disorder is a chronic disease characterized by urgency, nocturia, and frequency, either with or without incontinence. This condition can significantly impact the quality of life of affected patients.
 
Numerous drugs have been used to target overactive bladder symptoms, including β3-adrenergic receptor agonists and M-choline receptor blockers. However, these drugs are associated with certain side effects and are limited in their therapeutic efficacy.
 
Many sub-standard and ‘manipulated’ studies have claimed that medicinal cannabis would be beneficial in treating overactive bladder symptoms.
 
Some clinical trials claimed that that cannabis extracts relieve neurogenic and refractory symptoms in multiple sclerosis patients by reducing urge incontinence episodes, frequency, and nocturia, along with improving Incontinence Quality of Life (I-QOL) and bladder control.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12617376/
 
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16552618/
 
Yet, another study claimed that men between the ages of 20-59 who regularly used cannabis rarely reported lower urinary tract symptoms than non-users.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0090429518308811
 
Despite these claims, the true efficacy of cannabis in controlling overactive bladder symptoms in a larger population remains unknown.
 
The study team collated and analyzed data from seven two-year NHANES cycles between 2005 and 2018. Participants 20-59 years of age answered both Drug Use and Kidney Conditions questionnaires for enrollment into the study.
 
Cannabis use was self-reported during the Mobile Examination Center (MEC) interview, wherein study participants identified as either regular or nonregular users. In addition, information on the frequency of cannabis use was obtained through the questionnaire.
 
All overactive bladder symptoms were assessed by the Kidney Conditions-Urology questionnaire, with its quantification achieved by the Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS) questionnaire. Study participants with a score of three or more were considered to have overactive bladder disorder.
 
The study participant's gender, age, race, family income to poverty ratio (FIPR), annual household income, marital status, and education level were also obtained.
 
A detailed analysis of participants' body mass index (BMI), tobacco use, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome was further conducted.
 
The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was also calculated using the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation.
 
For the study, a total of 18,736 samples were used to represent the weighted U.S. population of 123,065,848. About 24% of respondents reported regular use of cannabis in their lifetime.
 
The study findings showed that regular cannabis users reported an increased urge for urinary incontinence and frequency of nocturia as compared to nonregular users.
 
Importantly, regular cannabis users were more likely to higher suffer from overactive bladder symptoms than nonregular users at all levels of severity.
 
The study findings demonstrated that regular users of cannabis or marijuana were at a greater risk of developing and suffering from severe overactive bladder disorder.
 
Hence, unless proven otherwise by further studies, the use of cannabis must be limited in treating overactive bladder symptoms, especially considering the adverse effects of cannabis use.
 
The study team noted that due to the cross-sectional nature of the study, temporal or casualty variation could not be determined. Other study limitations were incomplete information on overactive bladder symptoms provided by NHANES. Additionally, the type and dose of cannabis used by the study participants were not identified.
 
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