Cytological changes in respiratory epithelium in association with marijuana smoking

Abstract

Marijuana is one of the commonly used illicit drugs in Nigeria. This study evaluated the cytological changes in the respiratory epithelium associated with marijuana smoking in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria. This study was a cross- sectional study involving 100 marijuana smokers and 50 marijuana non-smokers, aged 15 years and above. Sputum samples were aseptically collected, and smears prepared. The smears were fixed in ethyl alcohol and were stained using Giemsa and Papanicolaou staining techniques. The stained smears were examined using x10 and x40 objectives of light microscope. Photomicrographs of stained smears were obtained. Data were represented in percentages in tables. Chi-square was used to determine statistical difference between two categorical variables. P-values < 0.05 were considered significant. Marital status, level of education and age of subjects significantly influenced the smoking of marijuana (p=0.001). There was a significant increase in the number of marijuana smokers between the age of 15 – 24(p=0.001) when compared with other age groups. There were also significant abnormalities (p=0.001) observed in the respiratory epithelium of marijuana smokers when compared with non-marijuana smokers. Respiratory cytology smears from marijuana smokers who have smoked for at least 10 years showed mild to moderate metaplasia, numerous acute and chronic inflammatory infiltrates while those who have smoked for more than 10 years showed giant epithelial cells, multinucleated cells and clumps of dysplastic cells. Data from this study showed that marijuana smoking causes inflammatory and dysplastic changes in the respiratory epithelium.