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.
