The slowly-resolving ambiguities of marijuana-linked mortality risk
With recreational marijuana and medical marijuana use approved in more states, there have have been few studies on the mortality implications of marijuana use in the general population. Last year, ExamOne completed the most comprehensive review of marijuana mortality risk in an insurance applicant population to probe the interaction of marijuana use with applicant age, gender and tobacco status.
While the scientific consensus remains incipient relative to other well-established underwriting criteria such as tobacco, a review of the available literature, in concert with ExamOne’s own original research, does reveal a number of emerging consistencies on the magnitude and origin of marijuana risk from a life insurance underwriting perspective.
The ExamOne study found no statistically significant relationship between THC status and mortality risk in females, but a fairly strong effect in males. This finding (marijuana risk in males, but not females) has been replicated in the published literature. In broad strokes, the most commonly suggested etiologies for marijuana-linked mortality fall into three categories:
Direct medical effects of marijuana use – particularly respiratory cancers
Direct behavioral effects – principally impaired-driving motor vehicle accidents and, in some studies, suicide
Indirect lifestyle correlates – including other recreational drug use and some observed increase in high-risk infectious disease (HCV and HIV) prevalence.
While marijuana use might still prove to be a long-term mortality risk in its own right, the most immediate and well-established risk factors for the drug appear to be its correlation with impaired driving, and the abuse of more inherently dangerous illegal drugs. Particularly when underwriting male users, insurers are probably well advised to pay careful attention to driving histories, and any indications of broader recreational drug use.
Please click here to read the article.