By New study from UK suggests that medical cannabis may lead to improved health-related quality of life for patients suffering from chronic diseases.
The study, published in the Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, analyzed 2,833 patients enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. (The researchers say they excluded his 443 patients from his original pool of 3,546 because they failed to complete a “patient-reported outcome measure,” or “PROM.”)
they wrote: [cannabis-based medicinal products] It was associated with improved health-related quality of life in chronically ill patients in the UK, and the treatment was “well tolerated by most participants, although adverse events were more common in women and cannabis-naive patients.” It was common.”
“This observational study [cannabis-based medicinal products] Related to general improvements [health-related quality of life]and sleep- and anxiety-specific symptoms up to 12 months in chronically ill patients … although most patients tolerated treatment well, [adverse events] should be considered before starting [cannabis-based medicinal products]’” wrote the researchers in their conclusion.
“In particular, women and cannabis-naive patients are more likely to experience adverse events. These findings may help inform current clinical practice, but most importantly, The findings highlight the need for further clinical trials to identify causality and develop guidelines for optimizing treatment. [cannabis-based medicinal products]’ they added.
Medical cannabis was legalized in the UK in 2018, but it can only be prescribed if other licensed medicines have not produced an adequate response.
That limitation has driven researchers to do their research.
“Since 2018, cannabis-based medicines (CBMPs) may be prescribed in the UK by chronic disease specialists who have a poor response to licensed medicines,” they previously published online. I am writing this month in the research introduction.
“However, the National Institutes of Health currently only treats CBMP for refractory chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, spasticity in adults with multiple sclerosis, and severe treatment-resistant epilepsy in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome. “The reason for these narrow recommendations is the limited and low quality of the current evidence.”
Specifically, researchers say, “There is a paucity of randomized controlled trials due to the challenges of investigating CBMP in this setting.”
The findings are in line with another study published in January that found an increase in the number of patients turning to cannabis to treat chronic pain across the country.
That study by researchers at the University of Michigan found: 25.9% … reported using cannabis to manage chronic pain in the past 12 months; More than half of adults reported using cannabis, reported that cannabis use reduced the use of prescription opioids, non-opioids, and over-the-counter pain relievers, and that cannabis use increased the use of these drugs. was less than 1%. ”
“Most people who have used cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain report using cannabis in place of other pain relievers, including prescription opioids. “What is being done underscores the importance of research to clarify the efficacy and potential adverse effects of cannabis on chronic pain,” the researchers wrote. suggests that the Cannabis Act of the United States has enabled access to cannabis as an analgesic treatment despite knowledge gaps in its use as a pain treatment.NORC AmeriSpeak Best Practices for Probability-Based Recruitment , but has limitations such as sampling, potential for self-report bias, and changes in pain treatment due to other factors (e.g., forced opioid taper).”
