Cannabis use, sedentary behavior, and physical activity in a nationally representative sample of US adults

Lydia Q Ong,Citlali Alvarado,John Bellettiere,Vincent Berardi,Paul Chavez

doi:10.1186/s12954-021-00496-2

Abstract

BackgroundPrior research examining the relationship between cannabis use, sedentary behavior, and physical activity has generated conflicting findings, potentially due to biases in the self-reported measures used to assess physical activity. This study aimed to more precisely explore the relationship between cannabis use and sedentary behavior/physical activity using objective measures.MethodsData were obtained from the 2005–2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A total of 2,092 participants (ages 20–59; 48.8% female) had accelerometer-measured sedentary behavior, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Participants were classified as light, moderate, frequent, or non-current cannabis users depending on how often they used cannabis in the previous 30 days. Multivariable linear regression estimated minutes in sedentary behavior/physical activity by cannabis use status. Logistic regression modeled self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in relation to current cannabis use.ResultsFully adjusted regression models indicated that current cannabis users’ accelerometer-measured sedentary behavior did not significantly differ from non-current users. Frequent cannabis users engaged in more physical activity than non-current users. Light cannabis users had greater odds of self-reporting physical activity compared to non-current users.ConclusionsThis study is the first to evaluate the relationship between cannabis use and accelerometer-measured sedentary behavior and physical activity. Such objective measures should be used in other cohorts to replicate our findings that cannabis use is associated with greater physical activity and not associated with sedentary behavior in order to fully assess the potential public health impact of increases in cannabis use.

Highlights

Prior research examining the relationship between cannabis use, sedentary behavior, and physical activity has generated conflicting findings, potentially due to biases in the self-reported measures used to assess physical activity
After controlling for all covariates, frequent cannabis users engaged in significantly greater amounts of light physical activity (PA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) compared to non-current users (light PA: 391.9 min/day vs. 350.2 min/day, p = 0.01; MVPA: 37.1 min/day vs. 27.2 min/day, p = 0.03; Table 2)
The results suggest that frequent cannabis users engaged in more PA than noncurrent users, but spent similar amounts of time in Sedentary behavior (SB)

Summary

Introduction

Prior research examining the relationship between cannabis use, sedentary behavior, and physical activity has generated conflicting findings, potentially due to biases in the self-reported measures used to assess physical activity. Among a nationally representative sample, an examination of eight years of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) suggested that current cannabis users had lower odds of engaging in self-reported PA compared to non-current users [19], whereas a different study using ten years of NHANES data found that any lifetime cannabis use was associated with higher odds of being physically active [20]. A study utilizing NHANES data found that females with any lifetime cannabis use had greater self-reported sedentary time compared to females who had never used cannabis [20]. A population-based survey of Canadians found that, compared to nonusers, cannabis users had greater odds of spending over 35 h per week in sedentary behavior [21]

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