PMID- 37057257
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20240402
IS  - 2049-4637 (Print)
IS  - 2049-4645 (Electronic)
IS  - 2049-4637 (Linking)
VI  - 17
IP  - 2
DP  - 2023 Apr
TI  - Medicinal cannabis for Australian patients with chronic refractory pain including 
      arthritis.
PG  - 206-217
LID - 10.1177/20494637221147115 [doi]
AB  - OBJECTIVES: To examine the tolerability and effectiveness of medicinal cannabis 
      prescribed to patients for chronic, refractory pain, with a subset analysis on 
      arthritis. METHODS: This was an interim analysis of the CA Clinics Observational 
      Study investigating self-reported adverse events (AEs) and changes in 
      health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes over time after commencing 
      medicinal cannabis. Patients were prescribed medicinal cannabis by a medical 
      practitioner, containing various ratios of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and/or 
      cannabidiol (CBD). RESULTS: The overall chronic pain cohort, and specifically the 
      balanced CBD:THC products, were associated with significantly reduced pain 
      intensity scores (p = 0.003, p = 0.025), with 22% of patients reporting a 
      clinically meaningful reduction in pain intensity. Patients in the arthritis 
      subset (n = 199) reported significantly reduced pain intensity scores (p = 0.005) 
      overall, and specifically for those taking CBD-only (p = 0.018) and balanced 
      products (p = 0.005). Other HRQoL outcomes, including pain interference and pain 
      impact scores were significantly improved depending on the CBD:THC ratio. 
      Products that contained a balanced ratio of CBD:THC were associated with 
      improvements in the most number of PROMIS-29 domains. Approximately half (n = 
      364; 51%) of the chronic pain cohort experienced at least one AE, the most common 
      being dry mouth (24%), somnolence (19%) or fatigue (12%). These findings were 
      similar in the arthritis subset. DISCUSSION: Medicinal cannabis was observed to 
      improve pain intensity scores and HRQoL outcomes in patients with chronic, 
      refractory pain, providing real-world insights into medicinal cannabis' 
      therapeutic potential.
CI  - (c) The Author(s) 2022.
FAU - Schubert, Elise A
AU  - Schubert EA
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-2533-0001
AD  - School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, 
      Sydney, NSW, Australia. RINGGOLD: 522555
FAU - Johnstone, Masego T
AU  - Johnstone MT
AD  - Applied Cannabis Research Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
FAU - Benson, Melissa J
AU  - Benson MJ
AD  - Applied Cannabis Research Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
FAU - Alffenaar, Johannes C
AU  - Alffenaar JC
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-6703-0288
AD  - School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, 
      Sydney, NSW, Australia. RINGGOLD: 522555
AD  - Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia. RINGGOLD: 8539
FAU - Wheate, Nial J
AU  - Wheate NJ
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-0505-1363
AD  - School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, 
      Sydney, NSW, Australia. RINGGOLD: 522555
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20221220
PL  - England
TA  - Br J Pain
JT  - British journal of pain
JID - 101583844
PMC - PMC10088421
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Medicinal cannabis
OT  - arthritis
OT  - cannabidiol
OT  - chronic pain
OT  - observational study
OT  - Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol
COIS- The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect 
      to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Elise A Schubert 
      is funded by scholarships from The University of Sydney and Canngea Pty Ltd. 
      Masego T Johnstone was a Research Lead at Applied Cannabis Research Pty Ltd. 
      during the conduct of this analysis. Nial J Wheate is a director of the 
      Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association and Science Director of Canngea Pty 
      Ltd. Melissa J Benson was General Manager at Applied Cannabis Research Pty Ltd. 
      during the conduct of this analysis. She continues to be an advisory board member 
      at the time of publication.
EDAT- 2023/04/15 06:00
MHDA- 2023/04/15 06:01
PMCR- 2024/04/01
CRDT- 2023/04/14 02:39
PHST- 2023/04/15 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2023/04/14 02:39 [entrez]
PHST- 2023/04/15 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2024/04/01 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1177_20494637221147115 [pii]
AID - 10.1177/20494637221147115 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Br J Pain. 2023 Apr;17(2):206-217. doi: 10.1177/20494637221147115. Epub 2022 Dec 
      20.