Prior Cannabis Use Is Associated with better Outcome after Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Well, see what your doctor has to say about this pretreatment for stroke with cannabis. Although this is correlation not cause. Tweak your doctor anyway about this. Or is the better result because these were young patients? Doesn't anyone in stroke understand cause and effect?
http://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/443532
Di Napoli M.^{a, b} · Zha A.M.^c · Godoy D.A.^{d, e} · Masotti L.^f · Schreuder F.H.B.M.^g · Popa-Wagner A.^{h, i} · Behrouz R.^j · from the MNEMONICH Registry
^aNeurological Service, San Camillo de' Lellis General Hospital, Rieti, ^bNeurological Section, SMDN - Center for Cardiovascular Medicine and Cerebrovascular Disease Prevention, Sulmona, L'Aquila, Italy; ^cDepartment of Neurology, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio, USA; ^dThe Neurointensive Care Unit, Sanatorio Pasteur and ^eIntensive Care Unit, Hospital Interzonal de Agudos ‘San Juan Bautista', Catamarca, Argentina; ^fDepartment of Internal Medicine, Santa Maria Nuova Hospital, Florence, Italy; ^gDepartment of Neurology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands; ^hDepartment of Psychiatry, Rostock University Medical School, Rostock, Germany; ⁱUniversity of Medicine and Pharmacy, Craiova, Romania; ^jDepartment of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, Tex., USA

• Abstract
• Purchase
• FullText
• PDF
• Login / Register

Abstract

Objective: Recent evidence suggests that a potential harmful relationship exists between cannabis use and ischemic stroke(not proven). The purpose of this study was to determine the implications of cannabis use in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients.  
Methods: An analysis of an international, multicenter, observational database of consecutive patients with spontaneous ICH was conducted. We extracted the following characteristics on presentation: demographics, risk factors, antiplatelet or anticoagulant use, Glasgow Coma Scale, ICH score, neuroimaging parameters, and urine toxicology screen (UTS) results. Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score was utilized for determination of outcome at discharge. Adjusted logistic ordinal regression was used as shift analysis to assess the impact of cannabis use on mRS score at discharge. The adjusted common OR measured the likelihood that cannabis use would lead to lower mRS scores.  
Results: Within a cohort of 725 spontaneous ICH patients, UTS was positive for cannabinoids in 8.6%. Cannabinoids-positive (CB⁺) patients were more frequently Caucasian (p < 0.001), younger (p < 0.001), and had lower median ICH scores on admission (p = 0.017) than those who were cannabinoids-negative. CB⁺ patients also showed a shift toward better outcome in the distribution of mRS categories, with an adjusted common OR of 0.544 (95% CI 0.330-0.895, p = 0.017). Conclusion: In this multinational cohort, cannabis use was discovered in nearly 10% of patients with spontaneous ICH. Although there was no relationship between cannabis use and specific ICH characteristics, CB⁺ patients had milder ICH presentation and less disability at discharge.