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Effects of Marijuana Smoking on the Lung

Overview of attention for article published in Annals of the American Thoracic Society, June 2013
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • One of the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#5 of 3,615)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Citations

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204 Dimensions

Readers on

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280 Mendeley
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Title
Effects of Marijuana Smoking on the Lung
Published in
Annals of the American Thoracic Society, June 2013
DOI 10.1513/annalsats.201212-127fr
Pubmed ID
Authors

Donald P Tashkin

Abstract

Regular smoking of marijuana by itself causes visible and microscopic injury to the large airways that is consistently associated with an increased likelihood of symptoms of chronic bronchitis that subside after cessation of use. On the other hand, habitual use of marijuana alone does not appear to lead to significant abnormalities in lung function when assessed either cross-sectionally or longitudinally, except for possible increases in lung volumes and modest increases in airway resistance of unclear clinical significance. Therefore, no clear link to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been established. Although marijuana smoke contains a number of carcinogens and cocarcinogens, findings from a limited number of well-designed epidemiological studies do not suggest an increased risk for the development of either lung or upper airway cancer from light or moderate use, although evidence is mixed concerning possible carcinogenic risks of heavy, long-term use. Although regular marijuana smoking leads to bronchial epithelial ciliary loss and impairs the microbicidal function of alveolar macrophages, evidence is inconclusive regarding possible associated risks for lower respiratory tract infection. Several case reports have implicated marijuana smoking as an etiologic factor in pneumothorax/pneumomediastinum and bullous lung disease, although evidence of a possible causal link from epidemiologic studies is lacking. In summary, the accumulated weight of evidence implies far lower risks for pulmonary complications of even regular heavy use of marijuana compared with the grave pulmonary consequences of tobacco.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 334 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 280 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 3 1%
Unknown 277 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 57 20%
Researcher 39 14%
Student > Master 32 11%
Student > Postgraduate 23 8%
Other 18 6%
Other 58 21%
Unknown 53 19%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 81 29%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 26 9%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 19 7%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 17 6%
Psychology 14 5%
Other 57 20%
Unknown 66 24%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 691. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 March 2024.
All research outputs
#30,447
of 25,571,620 outputs
Outputs from Annals of the American Thoracic Society
#5
of 3,615 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#129
of 207,002 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Annals of the American Thoracic Society
#1
of 13 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,571,620 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,615 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 16.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 207,002 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 13 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.