HealthDay News — Cannabis use is associated with a nearly quadrupled risk for developing type 2 diabetes, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, held from Sept. 15 to 19 in Vienna. Ibrahim Kamel, MD, from Boston Medical Center, and colleagues evaluated the association between cannabis use and the risk for developing diabetes mellitus. The researchers found that diabetes incidence was significantly higher in the cannabis cohort (2.2%) versus the healthy cohort (0.6%). The risk difference was 1.6% (z = 28.845; P < 0.0001), the risk ratio was 3.739, and the odds ratio was 3.802, indicating that cannabis users had a nearly 4 times greater risk for developing diabetes. Additionally, there was lower diabetes-free survival in cannabis users (96.82%) versus controls (99.15%) over 5 years (χ2 = 1112.03; P < 0.0001; and hazard ratio, 4.532).