Association Between Recent Cannabis Use and Acute Ischemic Stroke (P3.3-012)

Objective: In this study we aim to determine the association of acute ischemic stroke and recent cannabis use among patients admitted in the only tertiary academic medical center in Mississippi. Background: Studies that have analyzed the association between cannabis use and acute ischemic stroke have provided conflicting results. Design/Methods: A retrospective observational cohort study was performed utilizing the institutional patient cohort explorer. All adult patients 18 years and older admitted from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2017 were screened for the inclusion criteria. Only the patients who underwent urine toxicology testing were included in the analysis. Recent cannabis use was defined as having a positive urine drug screen for cannabinoid. The unadjusted risk ratio was determined. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was utilized to study the independent association between recent cannabis use and acute ischemic stroke. Results: A total of 9,350 patients with acute ischemic stroke and urine toxicology testing were included for analysis. Patients with TIA, intracranial hemorrhage, and those with polysubstance use were excluded. Eighteen percent (1,643) of the patients had a positive urine cannabis test. The unadjusted risk ratio showed a 50% decrease in risk of acute ischemic stroke among cannabis users (RR = 0.505, P Conclusions: This is the first study analyzing the association of cannabis use and acute ischemic stroke using the admission urine toxicology test. Consistent with some studies, this study shows that recent c annabis use is not an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke. Further studies utilizing urine toxicology tests with a larger sample size should be done. Disclosure: Dr. San Luis has nothing to disclose. Dr. Shekhar has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sugg has nothing to disclose. Dr. Nobleza has nothing to disclose. Dr. Gangadhara has nothing to disclose.