Cases of ‘scromiting’ condition tied to cannabis use spike among teens, young adults: New study

Younger Cannabis Users Are Developing a Severe Vomiting Syndrome Far Earlier Than Doctors Expected

Provpnadvice.com – A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis reveals that teenagers and young adults aged 15 to 24 are now accounting for the largest share of emergency department visits linked to cannabis hyperemesis syndrome — a finding that upends the long-held assumption that the condition only strikes after years of daily marijuana use. The data, covering January 2023 through September 2025, shows this age bracket recorded an average of nearly 10 CHS-related ER visits per 10,000 people per month before a key diagnostic change took effect. Once the World Health Organization introduced a dedicated diagnostic code for the syndrome in October, that figure surged to nearly 39 per 10,000, dwarfing every other demographic group.

The next-highest rate belonged to adults aged 25 to 34, at 28 per 10,000. The national average across all ages sat at just 3.19 per 10,000 during the same 2023–2025 window before climbing to roughly 12 per 10,000 in the eight months following the WHO update.

What the Syndrome Actually Does

Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome — sometimes abbreviated CHS — was first identified in Australia roughly twenty years ago. It manifests as recurrent episodes of violent, uncontrollable vomiting paired with excruciating abdominal pain and persistent nausea. The suffering is so acute that some clinicians and patients have coined the portmanteau “scromiting” to describe the combination of screaming and projectile vomiting that characterizes a full-blown episode. Hot showers and baths remain the most commonly cited palliative measure, offering temporary relief from the visceral distress. In isolated, rare instances, the condition has proven fatal, according to public health officials.

Dr. Sam Torbati, medical director of the Ruth and Harry Roman Emergency Department at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, has described what he encounters on a weekly basis in his own words:

“[Patients] are not high in any fashion and in fact are in significant distress with uncontrolled vomiting, gagging, hurling, and pain.”

Torbati told Nexstar via email that he sees individuals already carrying a CHS diagnosis, or presenting with suspected cases, arrive at his department every single week.

A Diagnostic Code Changes the Numbers

Before October, clinicians lacked a specific ICD code for CHS and often had to file patients under broader categories such as cyclic vomiting syndrome or nonspecific gastroenteritis. The WHO’s decision to add the syndrome to its official diagnostic manual was intended to give providers a precise label, reducing misdiagnosis and improving surveillance. A 2025 study noted that without that code, patients risked being misclassified entirely.

The CDC’s latest report confirmed that ER visits tagged with the new code rose sharply in the months after its introduction. Researchers framed the uptick as evidence of “[improved recognition]” of the condition, while also cautioning that it may reveal the “public health impact” of CHS had been substantially underestimated in prior years.

Geographic Spread Across the United States

The syndrome is no longer confined to a single region. Virginia state data show emergency department visits for CHS have climbed almost 29 percent since 2020. Comparable surges have been documented in Massachusetts, Northern California, and portions of North Carolina. An official at Duke Regional Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, told reporters last summer that CHS patients are seen “every week, if not every day.”

Why Younger Patients Are Appearing

For years, the prevailing clinical narrative held that CHS was a disease of long-term, heavy users. A George Washington University investigation of more than 1,000 self-reported CHS cases found that over 40 percent of respondents consumed marijuana more than five times per day, and a roughly equivalent share had been using the substance regularly for at least five years before their first episode.

The CDC’s newest data complicates that picture. Alana Vivolo-Kantor, the study’s first author and a CDC epidemiologist, acknowledged the surprise to The Associated Press:

“Because the assumption going in was, ‘well, how can they have chronic use?’ How early were they using cannabis?”

Researchers in the report pointed to “emerging evidence” suggesting symptom onset can occur much sooner than previously estimated — potentially within the first year of cannabis use. They theorized that shifting behavioral patterns among younger cohorts, including earlier initiation ages, vaping devices, and products with substantially higher THC concentrations than those available a generation ago, may be compressing the timeline to symptom development.

Torbati echoed this interpretation, noting that older literature placed CHS well after prolonged use, yet he is now treating patients who developed the syndrome after only a few years of heavy cannabinoid consumption. He attributed the shift partly to the markedly elevated THC potency in contemporary marijuana products compared with what was available historically.

Implications for Public Health and Clinical Practice

The convergence of a new diagnostic code, rising case counts among younger demographics, and evolving product potency creates a threefold challenge. Clinicians must broaden their differential diagnosis to include CHS in adolescents presenting with recurrent vomiting, even when the patient’s cannabis history appears brief. Public health agencies will need updated surveillance to track whether the younger-cohort trend continues to accelerate. And patients — particularly those who began using cannabis in their early teens — should understand that the syndrome is not exclusively a late-stage complication of decades-long use. Recent research from Massachusetts and other states has independently warned that younger users may face elevated risk, reinforcing the CDC’s findings and underscoring the need for earlier clinical vigilance.