Cannabis-Related Healthcare Encounters Among U.S. Commercially Insured Adults

Recent studies among U.S. older adults showed increases in cannabis-related healthcare encounters, with the highest rates in states that legalized adult and medical cannabis use. To understand how increased cannabis access results in healthcare encounters among younger adults, a study was conducted to assess temporal trends in cannabis-related healthcare encounters among commercially insured adults aged 18-64 years.

A descriptive study using administrative claims from four national health insurers contributing to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Sentinel Distributed Database was conducted. Healthcare encounters with evidence of cannabis use, cannabis-related disorder, or poisoning from 2017 to 2022 were defined using ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes. Annual encounter rates, overall, by care setting, age group, and state or territory cannabis legal status were assessed. Analyses were conducted in 2023 to 2024.

Among 115,187,493 eligible individuals, 963,345 (0.8%) contributed 5,601,233 cannabis-related encounters. Annual rates increased from 44.0 per 10,000 eligible person-years (95% CI=43.8, 44.2) in 2017 to 75.1 per 10,000 eligible person-years (95% CI=74.8, 75.4) in 2022 (Ƭ=1.0; p=0.01), with outpatient and emergency department encounters largely accounting for the upward trend and increasing trends across all age groups. Differences by cannabis legal status at the state or territory of residence were not identified.

Findings are consistent with an evolving landscape where cannabis use, legalization, and products' potency are increasing, and the public perception of risk is decreasing. Although results were stratified by age and cannabis legal status, determinants such as race, socioeconomic status, and clinical characteristics might have an impact on the estimates.