Marijuana Screening and Trauma Outcomes

The objective of this study was to determine if positive marijuana toxicology screen is associated with worse outcomes following trauma.

A 3-year retrospective study was conducted on adult trauma patients using a Level II trauma registry. Patients were included if they had marijuana toxicology results available and were excluded if they tested positive for polysubstance. Endpoints of interest were mortality, injury severity score, length of stay (LOS), Glasgow coma Scale, and blood requirements.

Three hundred and eighty-one patients met the criteria. There was no difference between the two groups with regard to mortality (1.63% vs. 3.05%, odds ratio [OR]: 0.52 [0.13-2.14]) or LOS (1 day vs. 1 day, P = 0.125), and P > 0.05 for all other metrics besides age (31.53 years vs. 50.20 years, P = 0). OR for suffering major trauma in patients <55 years was 2.26 (16.88% vs. 8.26%, OR: 2.26 [1.02-5.01]), and patients 55 years and older were more likely to present with lower blood pressure (129.12 mmHg vs. 140.85 mmHg, P = 0.002) and higher heart rate (95.25 bpm vs. 83.47 bpm, P = 0.026).

A positive screen for marijuana in the setting of a trauma is not associated with increased mortality or hospital LOS. These results warrant further investigation of the effects of marijuana on trauma outcomes.