| Journal | Brain, behavior, and immunity |
| Study Type | Randomized Trial |
| Population | Human participants |
This systematic review and meta-analysis addresses a critical gap in understanding cannabis’s inflammatory effects across healthy and psychiatric populations. With cannabis use rising for both medical and recreational purposes, clinicians need evidence-based guidance on how cannabinoids affect systemic inflammation.
This comprehensive meta-analysis of 46 studies involving 54,382 participants examined peripheral inflammatory biomarkers in cannabinoid users versus non-users. The analysis included 190 effect sizes from observational studies, prospective studies, and randomized controlled trials. Observational data suggested cannabis use was associated with higher levels of anti-inflammatory markers, though the clinical significance and causality remain unclear given the heterogeneous study designs and populations included.
“While intriguing, this meta-analysis highlights how much we still don’t understand about cannabis and inflammation. The mixed findings across study types reinforce that we cannot yet make definitive claims about cannabinoids’ anti-inflammatory effects in clinical practice.”
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This study item was assembled from normalized source metadata and pipeline scoring.