Growing number of Virginia ED visits linked to long-term cannabis use, study finds

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- There has been an increase in Virginia emergency department (ED) visits by long-term, frequent cannabis users over the past few years, according to data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA).

The VHHA Data Analytics Team shared an analysis showing that, from 2020 to 2024, there has been an increase in Virginia hospital ED visits for cases of cannabis abuse, dependence and poisoning diagnosis, which is related to cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS).

CHS is a condition with symptoms that cause recurring episodes of severe nausea, abdominal pain and vomiting in long-term cannabis users, which has increased almost 29%.

Over the past four years, there have been a total of 24,960 visits related to CHS, which rose from 4,027 in 2020 to 5,175 in 2024, according to the release.

Academic research that's focused outside of Virginia has also found rising cases of CHS, which have led to hospital emergency department visits.

A study from the Journal of the American Medical Association discovered trends from 2016 to 2022 in connection with CHS-related ED visits across the nation.

It found that CHS-related visits for adults between the ages of 18 and 35 rose from 2020 to 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic and then leveled off. The study also found that ED visits with cyclic vomiting syndrome that are most likely related to CHS have remained elevated in 2022.

(Photo: Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association)

(Photo: Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association)

In 2024, a study published by the International Society of Addiction Journal reported a clear increase in hospitable ED patients with CHS located in Northern California over the span of 11 years, from 2009 to 2019.

Data from electronic medical records showed that 57,277 adult patients had a hospitable ED visit related to CHS. The author of the study discovered that “annual prevalence increased by 134 percent” for CHS cases.

Another study from 2019, published in the Internal Medicine Journal, showed an increase of 46% in Colorado hospitalizations for cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) due to cannabis use from 2010 to 2014.

George Washington University posted its own study of patients who had experienced CHS, where they found that 85% at at least one ED visit and 44% had been hospitalized at least once in association with hyperemesis symptoms.

In Virginia, there have been 172,778 hospital ED visits with adults for cannabis abuse, dependence or poisoning diagnoses from 2020 to 2024.

There have been over 31,000 emergecy hospitable visits each year during those years, and a peak in 2022 with 37,690.

VHHA created this analysis by examining all-payer emergency department and hospital discharge data from 2020 to 2024. Patients with at least one ICD-10 diagnosis code indicating cannabis abuse, dependence, or related poisoning were also included in the analysis of total such visits, according to the release.