Observational Study Finds Medical Cannabis Products Improve Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Chronic Illnesses

LOS ANGELES– A new study has found that medical cannabis products are generally well-tolerated and can lead to significant improvements in the health-related quality of life of patients. The research, published in the journal Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, assessed the safety and efficacy of cannabis-derived products in 2,833 patients enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. All participants had been authorized by their doctors to use cannabis-based medicinal products, which have been available since 2018 to patients unresponsive to conventional medications.

The patients enrolled in the study suffered from a range of conditions, including chronic pain, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression, migraine, inflammatory bowel disease, and other afflictions. The participants consumed cannabis by either vaporizing marijuana flowers or by ingesting plant-derived extracts containing both THC and CBD. Researchers assessed their symptoms compared to baseline at one, three, six, and twelve months.

The study found that most patients experienced sustained improvements following cannabis therapy, and that adverse events associated with cannabis were typically mild, with dry mouth and fatigue being the most frequently reported side-effects. However, the authors noted that female and cannabis-naïve patients were at increased risk of experiencing adverse events, and that the risk of such events should be considered before initiating treatment.

The authors concluded that the findings could help inform current clinical practice, but also highlighted the need for further clinical trials to determine causality and generate guidelines to optimize therapy with cannabis-based medicinal products. Overall, the study suggests that medical cannabis products can have a positive impact on the quality of life of patients with chronic illness, but more research is needed to fully understand their benefits and risks.

 Here the full text of study “An observational study of safety and clinical outcome measures across patient groups in the United Kingdom Medical Cannabis Registry”