Abstract Number: PB1628
Meeting: ISTH 2020 Congress
Theme: Platelets and Megakaryocytes » Platelet Function and Interactions
Background: Cannabis sativa is one of man´s oldest and most commonly used illegal drug and countries with the highest use among adults as of 2018 are Zambia, United States, Canada and Nigeria. It is widely consumed as marijuana (the dried leaves extract) inhaled and smoked.
Aims: This work brings cannabis to light, studying its reaction on “platelet indices” in the Calabar man.
Methods: 100 subjects made up of 50 voluntary marijuana male consumer and 50 non-consumers (control group), same age range group recruited from Calabar South L.G.A, Cross River State, for this study which lasted for a period of four months. Informed consent and a filled questionnaire were gotten from test and control subjects, along with ethical approval from CRS MOH. Blood sample in the concentration 1.5-2mg/ml of blood K2EDTA was used for complete blood count using an automated method (HB 7501 Haematology analyzer) for platelet count and their indices. SPSS version 20.0 was used in the analysis of the data and an error probability of ≤ 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Mean age (23.00±0.45) shows to have no effect on the study. Moreover, there was a significant (P< 0.001) decrease in platelet count (PLT), plateletcrit (PCT) and platelet distribution width (PDW) (186.42X109/L, 0.172% and 15.9fL), as mean platelet volume (MPV) (8.9fL) showed slight increase (P< 0.05) in test group when compared to control group. There was a mild positive and negative significant relationship between duration of smoking versus PLT, PCT, MPV and PDW (r=0.111, r=0.112, r=0.224 and r=-0.172) respectively. The various marijuana types (weed, skunk, weed+skunk) smoked revealed an overall non-significant difference among groups.
Conclusions: Cannabis smoking alters platelet characteristics in blood and may consequently lead to certain disease conditions such as the dreadful myocardial infarction, thromboembolism, atherosclerosis and immune thrombocytopenic purpura among others.
| Parameters | Marijuana Smokers n = 50 | Non-Smokers (Control) n = 50 | P value |
| Age (years) | 23.66±3.305 | 23.00±3.130 | 0.308 |
| PLT (X109/L) | 186.42±48.843 | 252.60±33.111 | 0.000 |
| PCT (%) | 0.172±0.075 | 0.218±0.028 | 0.000 |
| MPV (fL) | 8.89±0.692 | 8.55±0.668 | 0.014 |
| PDW (fL) | 15.98±0.782 | 16.27±0.532 | 0.039 |
[Table 1: Comparison of mean age, platelet count and platelet indices of Marijuana smokers and control groups]
| Parameters | Weed (n =15) | Skunk (n = 9) | Weed+Skunk (n = 26) | P value |
| PLT (X109/L) | 177.33±13.82 | 178.11±12.67 | 194.54±9.34 | 0.790 |
| PCT (%) | 0.159±0.017 | 0.163±0.012 | 0.183±0.018 | 0.727 |
| MPV (fL) | 8.667±0.154 | 9.167±0.135 | 8.938±0.155 | 0.187 |
| PDW (fL) | 16.14±0.18 | 15.98±0.23 | 15.90±0.17 | 0.598 |
[Table 2: Comparison of platelet count and platelet indices among the various types of Marijuana (weed, skunk and weed+skunk) consumed]
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Okpokam DC, Nsonko M, Obembe AO. Evaluation of Platelet Count and Platelet Indices of Male Cannabis Sativa (Marijuana) Consumers in Calabar South, Cross River State, Nigeria [abstract]. Res Pract Thromb Haemost. 2020; 4 (Suppl 1). https://abstracts.isth.org/abstract/evaluation-of-platelet-count-and-platelet-indices-of-male-cannabis-sativa-marijuana-consumers-in-calabar-south-cross-river-state-nigeria/. Accessed September 21, 2023.« Back to ISTH 2020 Congress
ISTH Congress Abstracts - https://abstracts.isth.org/abstract/evaluation-of-platelet-count-and-platelet-indices-of-male-cannabis-sativa-marijuana-consumers-in-calabar-south-cross-river-state-nigeria/