Marijuana smoking as cause of reduction in single-breath carbon monoxide diffusing capacity.
To investigate the effects of chronic marijuana smoking on lung function, pulmonary function tests including single-breath carbon monoxide diffusing capacities were performed in 15 healthy women who smoked 1.7 +/- 1.4 (mean +/- SD) marijuana cigarettes per day for 235 +/- 135 days per year for a mean of 10.5 +/- 3.7 years. Control groups included 27 nonsmoking and 26 tobacco-smoking women. Results revealed that marijuana smoking with or without tobacco is associated with a reduction in the single-breath carbon monoxide diffusing capacity to 74 +/- 20 percent of predicted, which was significantly different from that in the nonsmoking control subjects (92 +/- 11 percent; p less than 0.05). The subset of subjects who smoked marijuana and tobacco had a further reduction of the single-breath carbon monoxide diffusing capacity to 65 +/- 17 percent, which was significantly different from that in both nonsmoking and smoking control subjects (80 +/- 7 percent). These results suggest that heavy marijuana smoking when added to tobacco smoking may damage the gas exchange surface of the lung.
D000328:Adult; D002188:Cannabis; D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D011653:Pulmonary Diffusing Capacity / Q000187:drug effects*; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange / Q000187:drug effects; D012907:Smoking; D014026:Nicotiana
D002248:Carbon Monoxide