Pediatric study ties cannabis, tobacco smoke to emergency room visits

A study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Toronto found children exposed to a combination of marijuana and tobacco smoke go the ER more often than those without smoke exposure. It also found children with exposure to both types of smoke also had more middle ear infections. The survey of caregivers of children taken to the ER of a children’s hospital in Colorado found children exposed to tobacco or marijuana smoke had a similar rate of ER visits. But those exposed to both marijuana and tobacco group had more ER visits. The mean number of visits in a 12-month period for children with no smoke exposure was 1.97, compared to 2.09 for tobacco smoke only, 2.19 for marijuana smoke only, and 2.48 for both.