UK's new Cannabis Center funds four research studies; two will look at marijuana use by pregnant women and cancer patients

UK faculty with cannabis research grants (clockwise from top left): Kristin Ashford, Jay Christian, Jayani Jayawardhana and Caroline Weber. (Photos provided)

By Lindsay Travis

University of Kentucky

Kentucky's recently established center for cannabis research has awarded its first set of faculty pilot grants to support innovative and collaborative cannabis research.

The University of Kentucky Cannabis Center conducts research on the health effects of cannabis, including its risks and benefits when used to treat certain medical conditions. The state leguislature established it just over a year ago, and gave it $2 million through June 2024.

The researchers are in the College of Nursing, College of Public Health, College of Pharmacy and the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration. Awards of $75,000 to $100,000 will fund studies for 14 months.

“We are excited for this opportunity to expand and accelerate cannabis science at UK and conduct studies focused on the public health impacts of cannabis that can directly affect the lives of Kentuckians,” said Shanna Babalonis, Ph.D., director of the Cannabis Center. “We have talented and dedicated researchers across a range of disciplines right here on campus who can contribute meaningful science to the center from multiple perspectives.”

The research will help educate medical providers, legislators and citizens on the risks and benefits of the use of cannabis and cannabinoids as Kentucky implements new medical marijuana legislation. Here are details on the projects:

Perinatal Cannabis: Perceptions, Use Patterns and Policy Implications: Kristin Ashford, associate dean of undergraduate programs and policy, the Good Samaritan Endowed Chair for Community Nursing, and director of the Perinatal Research and Wellness Center, will examine cannabis use during pregnancy.

As cannabis use increases, it places mothers and fetuses at risk for complications as well as long-term developmental harm for infants. Ashford will study the perceptions of safety and acceptability for cannabis use among pregnant women over the last five years in Central Kentucky.

“We want to know what pregnant women think, feel and do when it comes to using cannabis, in order to give our legislators, health care providers and expectant mothers a better understanding of how to improve the health of women and children in Kentucky,” said Ashford.

Population-based Survey of Cannabis Use among Cancer Patients in Kentucky: Jay Christian, an associate professor in the public-health college's Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, will explore cannabis use among Kentucky cancer patients and survivors.

Through a survey of users, Christian aims to better understand the prevalence of cannabis use, which methods patients are using (smoking, vaping, eating), and how they are obtaining it. His research team is also interested in learning which symptoms patients are treating with cannabis and how effective they find it.

“Cannabis laws around the country, including in Kentucky, are changing rapidly,” said Christian. “To determine the effect of legal medical cannabis, it’s important to know how people have been using it both before and after the law changes. This study is a first step in helping us to assess the effects of Kentucky’s new medical cannabis law on cancer patients and survivors.”

Christian is teaming up with researchers at the Patient-Oriented and Population Sciences Shared Resource Facility at the UK Markey Cancer Center, UK Radiation Oncology and the departments of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences for the project, along with experts at the Kentucky Cancer Registry.

Impact of Cannabis Laws on Opioid and Benzodiazepine Prescriptions and Associated Health Outcomes in Older Adults: “Cannabis use among older adults is increasing at a faster pace due to the legalization of medical and recreational cannabis by various states, and there is suggested evidence of substitutional effects of cannabis for the treatment of chronic pain and anxiety,” said Jayani Jayawardhana, an associate professor in the public-health college's Department of Health Management and Policy.

Opioids and benzodiazepines are commonly prescribed medications for chronic pain, anxiety and sleep disorders, which are more prevalent among older adults.

Jayawardhana’s study will ultimately help inform the varying effects of different types of cannabis laws on the effectiveness in reducing those specific prescriptions and associated adverse health outcomes, like opioid use disorder or benzodiazepine use disorder.

Her team of researchers in the College of Pharmacy will also track various demographic characteristics to understand who is preferentially affected by different types of cannabis laws.

The Evolution of Cannabis Consumption: Evidence from Traffic Fatalities: Caroline Weber, an associate professor in the Martin School, will study the changes in cannabis use by examining traffic-fatality records.

“The rapid expansion of recreational cannabis access in the U.S. has drastically increased legal recreational cannabis consumption,” said Weber. “However, increased legal consumption likely coincides with a decrease in black-market and medical cannabis; hence, it's theoretically ambiguous how much overall cannabis consumption has changed.”

Weber will construct a proxy for cannabis consumption using blood-THC tests in traffic-fatality records and compare this measure with existing usage measures. Her team will then use their new proxy to more precisely estimate consumption changes in response to recreational and medical cannabis legalization.

2/3 of wrecks that kill children occur on rural roads

New York Times photo

Unintentional injury is the most common cause of death in children under the age of 15; car wrecks are the most common cause of unintentional injury; and rural roads were the most deadly: 67 percent of deaths among children occurred on roads classified as rural by the Federal Highway Administration. Possible culprits include poor lighting, distance to trauma centers and urban residents’ lack of familiarity with rural roads.

Between 2010 and 2014, 2,885 children died in car wrecks nationwide, an average of 11 kids per week, Nicholas Bakalar writes in The New York Times. That figure does not include pedestrians, those who died in motorcycle or bicycle wrecks or those who died riding in an unenclosed cargo area or trailer. "Most of the children who died were not wearing seat belts — nationwide, 43 percent were unrestrained or improperly restrained. Another 15 percent were sitting inappropriately in the front seat, and 13 percent were riding in cars driven by somebody under the influence of alcohol," Bakalar notes.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas carried out this research, which was published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Researchers also found significant variations in children’s deaths from state to state, Bakalar writes. In New Hampshire, all of the five children who died during the study period were properly restrained. In Mississippi, however, 56 of the 99 who died were not wearing seat belts, or weren't wearing them properly. There were 0.25 deaths per 100,000 children in Massachusetts, compared with 3.23 per 100,000 in Mississippi.

A 2005 study published in Injury Prevention found that rural roads have an overall higher percentage of fatal wrecks than do urban roads: 0.9 percent of wrecks on rural roads are fatal, while only 0.2 percent are fatal in urban areas.

Seat-belt use in Kentucky is about the national average but is lower in rural counties, and our traffic-death rate is high

Only two Kentucky counties, Boone and Kenton, used seat belts at the national average or above in 2012, according to the latest local data available from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, an ongoing poll by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A county-level map from The Washington Post using data from 2012 shows Boone and Kenton counties in yellow, meaning their seat-belt use rate is above the 85.9 percent national average (as reported by people in the survey). A few other counties are in light orange, meaning their rate is between 80 and 85 percent: McCracken, Graves, Calloway, Marshall, Christian, Hopkins, Henderson, Daviess, Warren, Hardin, Jefferson, Oldham, Spencer, Anderson, Franklin, Scott, Fayette, Jessamine, Madison, Campbell, Pendleton and Boyd.

Because seat-belt use is more common in more heavily populated counties, outweighing lesser use in rural counties, Kentucky's statewide seat-belt use rate in 2014 was approximately the national average. However, the CDC says the state's traffic-death rate is much higher than the national average. According to the Kentucky State Police, about two-thirds of people killed in traffic accidents in the state were not using a seat belt.

Kentucky's seat-belt law requires the driver and all passengers to use seat belts, unless the passenger is a child less than 40 inches tall, in which case a child restraint system must be used. Children younger than 7 and between 40 and 50 inches must be in a booster seat, which uses a seat belt.

How much do motorcycle helmets reduce the risk of head injuries? A lot, UK study shows

Image from Fox News

It goes without saying that wearing a helmet can reduce the risk of head injuries while riding a motorcycle, but a study at the University of Kentucky backs it up with hard numbers.

Motorcycle helmets "are associated with a 69 percent reduction in skull fractures, 71 percent reduction in cerebral contusion, and 53 percent reduction in intracranial hemorrhage," and "a 20 percent reduction in cerebral concussion," says a release from the UK College of Public Health.

Dr. Michael Singleton, an assistant professor of biostatistics, examined accident data to compare helmet protection against skull fracture, cerebral contusion, intracranial hemorrhage and cerebral concussions of motorcycle operators, and hospital billings from 2008 to 2012, to estimate the relative risks of each type of head injury for helmeted versus unprotected motorcyclists.

Kentucky once had a law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets, but the legislature repealed it at the behest of state Sen. Dam Seum, a Republican from Louisville.

Though there was little doubt that wearing a helmet increases safety, Singleton said helmeted motorcycle operators may still be at risk. "Current motorcycle helmets do not protect equally against all types of head injury," he said.

CDC names top 10 public health achievements in past decade, including tobacco control; Ky. still leads nation in tobacco use

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have named the top 10 public health achievements of the last decade. They include controlling infectious diseases like AIDS and tuberculosis; fighting tobacco use; improving motor-vehicle safety by having safer vehicles, roads and driving; reducing heart disease and death; and improving public safety preparedness following Sept. 11, 2001.

The 10 were not ranked. "Others include improvements in vaccine-preventable diseases, better maternal and infant health, better cancer prevention, improved occupational safety, and the aggressive steps that have led to fewer childhood lead poisonings," reports Bill Hendrick of WebMD Health News.

"Americans are living longer, healthier and more productive lives than ever before thanks in part to extraordinary achievements in public health over the past decade," CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden said in a press release. "Continued investments in prevention will help us and our children live even longer, healthier and more productive lives while bringing down health care costs."

The report shows the improvements have saved billions of dollars nationwide. Fortifying food with folic acid, which reduced neural tube defects like spina bifida, has alone resulted in a savings of $4.6 billion in the past 10 years. Preventing motor vehicle crashes could save $99 billion in medical and lost work costs each year. Preventing lead exposure in children could save $213 billion each year.

While tobacco control has advanced nationally, and Kentucky's smoking rate has dropped slightly, the state continues to lead the nation in tobacco use, at 25 percent of adults. While about two dozen Kentucky communities have passed smoke-free laws, a statewide ban has never gotten anywhere in the legislature. The number of states with comprehensive smoke-free laws increased from zero in 2000 to 25 states (plus Washington, D.C.) in 2010.

Motor vehicle safety has improved, a trend that has been noted in Kentucky. The number of traffic-related fatalities in Kentucky has decreased for the past six years. In 2010, 759 people died on Kentucky roads compared to 791 the year before. This year so far, 220 people have died in traffic-related accidents compared to 237 last year. Nationwide, the death rate related to motor vehicle accidents went from 14.9 per 100,000 people in 2000 to 11 per 100,000 in 2009. (Read more)

High gas prices = fewer traffic accidents, including DUI mishaps

There is one benefit to gasoline prices reaching nearly $4 a gallon: The rate of traffic accidents, including drink-driving accidents, goes down as gas prices go up.

These were the findings in a study by Mississippi State University's Social Science Research Center, which "analyzed total traffic crashes between April 2004 and December 2008, comparing gas prices to traffic safety statistics," research reporting service Newswise reports. SSRC demographer Guangquing Chi looked at factors including age, gender and race.

"The results suggest that prices have both short-term and intermediate-term effects on reducing traffic crashes," Chi said. The short-term impact involves younger drivers. Intermediate-term impact is related to older drivers and men. Short-term impact "refers to immediate effects, for example how a current month's average gasoline prices affect the same month's traffic crashes. Intermediate-term impact refers to effects over a one-year subsequent time period," Newswise reports. (Read more)