Health and Fitness

Study: Marijuana Smoking Does Not Promote Head and Neck Cancer


Study: Marijuana Smoking Does Not Promote Head and Neck CancerBelo Horizonte, Brazil–(ENEWSPF)–October 15, 2015.  Marijuana smoke exposure is not positively associated with the development of cancers of the head or neck, according to the results of a systematic literature review published online ahead of print in the journal Archives of Oral Biology.

Investigators from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil reviewed nine case-control studies to assess whether marijuana smoking favored the development of head and neck cancer. Authors reported that subjects who used cannabis were no more likely to develop the disease than were subjects with no history of use, after researchers controlled for potential confounding factors such as age, gender, race, and the use of tobacco and alcohol.

“The result of this study indicated no association between lifetime marijuana use and the risk for development of head and neck cancer,” authors concluded.

A separate analysis of six case-control studies published last year in the International Journal of Cancer similarly identified no positive association between cannabis smoke exposure and lung cancer, while a 2009 case-control trial published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research reported that moderate levels of marijuana use were associated with a reduced risk of head and neck cancer.

Full text of the study, “Head and neck cancers among marijuana users: A meta-analysis of matched case-control studies,” appears in Archives of Oral Biology.

Source: www.norml.org

 


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