Study ties cannabis, tobacco smoke to emergency room visits

Children exposed to the combination of marijuana and tobacco smoke go to the emergency department more often than those with no smoke exposure, according to a new study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Toronto over the weekend.

It found the children with ex- posure to both types of smoke also had more middle ear infections.

The study said the results were not seen in children exposed only to one or the other of marijuana smoke or tobacco smoke.

The research came from a survey of 1,500 caregivers of children taken to the emergency department of a children’s hospital in Colorado.

The survey found that overall, 140 caregivers, or 9.2 per cent, reported regularly smoking marijuana, and 285, or 19 per cent, reported regularly smoking tobacco.

Of the children seen, 4.1 per cent were exposed to marijuana smoke, 14.2 per cent were exposed to tobacco smoke, five per cent were exposed to both, and 76.6 per cent were exposed to neither.

The study found that when compared against each other, children in all groups had a similar rate of emergency room visits, except those exposed to both marijuana and tobacco group.

The mean number of visits in a 12-month period for children with no smoke exposure was 1.97, compared to 2.09 for tobacco smoke only, 2.19 for marijuana smoke only, and 2.48 for both.