Cannabis Use and Fungal Infections in a Commercially Insured Population, United States, 2016

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

C annabis can contain fungal pathogens that cause serious and often fatal infections in persons with immunocompromising conditions, such as cancer, transplant, or infection with HIV (1). In these patients, some reasons for using cannabis include pain and nausea relief and appetite stimulation. The frequency of fungal infections associated with cannabis is unknown but is a growing concern as more states legalize its medicinal and recreational use. We used health insurance claims data from 2016 to evaluate the prevalence of fungal infection diagnosis codes among persons who use cannabis and persons who do not use cannabis and to compare demographic and clinical features between these 2 groups.