Overview
- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a 16% increase in emergency department diagnoses of cannabis hyperemesis syndrome between October 2025 and May 2026 after the dedicated ICD‑10‑CM code R11.16 went into use in October 2025.
- CDC analysts found the rise was concentrated among people ages 15–24, teenage girls and young women, Black Americans, and American Indian and Alaska Native patients.
- Researchers reviewed syndromic emergency data covering roughly 7,500 U.S. hospital facilities and recorded nearly 200,000 CHS‑related visits from January 2023 through the summer of 2025, with monthly rates jumping sharply when the new code began.
- CHS causes repeated severe nausea, uncontrollable vomiting and intense abdominal pain and can lead to acute kidney injury and electrolyte problems, and CDC authors say symptoms may now show up much sooner after starting cannabis use, possibly within the first year.
- The CDC calls for more research and targeted public health outreach to study links to high‑potency THC products and novel delivery forms and to improve clinician recognition and prevention efforts, a move that could reduce ER burden and help affected families and teens.