Death circumstances of older adults with cannabinoid exposures

TL;DR

This study examines how cannabis use affects death circumstances in older adults, finding that cannabis users have a lower risk of intoxication-related deaths after adjusting for other factors.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into the death circumstances of older adults with cannabinoid exposure using medical examiner data.

Findings

Cannabis users had 60% lower odds of dying from intoxication compared to non-users before adjusting for confounders.

After adjusting for confounders, cannabis users had 65% lower odds of experiencing toxicity-related deaths.

Most deaths among older adults with cannabinoid exposure occurred in urban counties and involved polydrug use.

Abstract

Results from the 2021 and 2022 National Drug Use and Health Survey reported that 7.7 million older adults (60+) used cannabis. Reasons for cannabis use were to feel good, relax, improve sleep, and pain relief. However, studies on the long-term effects of cannabis in the older population remain limited. Our cross-sectional study aimed to report the characteristics and the death circumstances of people (65+) with cannabinoid exposures as determined by the medical examiners through autopsy and toxicology results. We used descriptive statistics to examine the de-identified data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (2020-2022). There were 10,851 (23.37%) out of 46,437 cases with cannabinoid exposures; 576 (5.31%) were older adults. 482 (83.68%) were males, whites (496 or 86.11%), and 576 (94%) happened in urban counties. 213 used a single drug, while 363 (63.02%) had polydrug use. 180 older decedents had cardiac-related conditions, 57 with respiratory-related conditions, and 14 with diabetes. The manner of death were accidents (n = 247 or 42.88%), homicide (n = 12 or 2.08%), natural cause (n = 177 or 30.73%), suicide (n = 133 or 23.09%), and undetermined cause (n = 7 or 1.22%). 115 older adults with cannabinoid exposures died from intoxication, while 28 (4.64%) from motor vehicular accidents. Using univariate logistic regression, cannabis users had 60% odds of dying from intoxication compared to non-users, OR=.604, 95% CI, .57-.63, p < 0.001. After adjusting for confounders, the odds of experiencing toxicity decreased, OR=.35, 95% CI, .33-.37, p < 0.001. Our study provided evidence of the harm from cannabinoid exposures, underscoring the need for tailored interventions for public safety.