A case series research that was published online on May 9 in JAMA Network Open suggests that medical cannabis therapy may help individuals with a variety of medical problems enhance their quality of life in terms of their health.
Researchers from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, led by Thomas R. Arkell, Ph.D., examined whether patients who use medical cannabis over time report increases in health-related quality of life. 3,148 patients (mean age, 55.9 years) from medical clinics all around Australia were included in the investigation.
According to the study’s findings, chronic non-cancer pain (68.6%) was the most frequent reason for treatment, followed by cancer pain (6.0%), sleeplessness (4.8%), and anxiety (4.2%).
After beginning medical cannabis treatment, patients reported significant improvements from baseline on all eight of the SF-36’s eight domains.
These advancements were largely maintained over time. Depending on the domain, medical cannabis use was linked to improvements in SF-36 scores ranging from 6.60 to 18.31 points; impact sizes ranged from 0.21 to 0.72. Of the 2,919 adverse occurrences, only two were deemed significant.
The authors note that although adverse effects were frequently, they were rarely serious, emphasizing the need for prudence when prescribing medical cannabis.
Several authors revealed their financial connections to the cannabis and pharmaceutical sectors.
About the study
Australia authorized medical cannabis in November 2016 and import in 2019. Other than Sativex and Epidiolex, all other cannabis drugs are now regarded as being unapproved medicinal items. To prescribe through one of several specific access methods, doctors must seek regulatory approval. Over the past two years, these approvals have significantly expanded and now number more over 332 000.1 Anxiety (23%) and chronic pain (55%), as well as insomnia and/or sleep problems (6%), have received the most approvals.
2 Major evaluations have generally come to the conclusion that there is evidence supporting cannabis efficacy in treating a number of illnesses, including adult-onset pain, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, and multiple sclerosis-related spasticity.3-5 There is minimal, insufficient, or no evidence regarding the use of cannabinoids to treat secondary sleep disorders.
The word “medical cannabis” refers to a wide range of goods (such as dried flower, oils, and edibles) that include many bioactive ingredients, such as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). In addition to the dearth of data from randomized clinical trials, patients are using these products to treat a wide range of health conditions, making clinical evidence that takes into account patient-reported outcomes an increasingly important source of information on safety and efficacy.
8,9 Validated health-related quality of life indicators can offer crucial, global insights into the relationships between medical cannabis use and everyday functioning, physical mobility, and mental health among patients with varied and dissimilar diseases. In this article, we look at changes in the quality of life connected to health across time in a cohort of Australian patients receiving medical care.
