A recent study featured in the journal Pain Practice reveals that individuals living with chronic pain experience significant and sustained relief in pain severity and related symptoms through the use of medical marijuana.
Drawing on data from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry, the research tracked patient-reported outcomes over a 12-month period, shedding light on the therapeutic potential of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) for managing both chronic pain and sleep-related challenges.
British researchers evaluated 1,139 chronic pain patients who were prescribed either cannabis flower or oil extracts. Patients were grouped based on their baseline sleep quality, categorized as either sleep-impaired or unimpaired. Researchers assessed changes in several metrics, including sleep quality, anxiety, pain severity, and overall health-related quality of life, at intervals of one, three, six, and 12 months.
Findings indicated that both groups experienced significant improvements in pain severity and other patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). However, sleep-impaired patients showed greater overall improvements in pain severity and sleep quality compared to those without sleep disturbances. The most commonly reported adverse effects were fatigue, dry mouth, lethargy, somnolence, and insomnia, with no significant differences in adverse event rates between the groups.
“Following CBMP treatment initiation, the present study found improvements in mean pain-specific PROM scores that are consistent with other comparable prospective open-label observational studies,” the authors concluded. They emphasized the need for randomized controlled trials to further validate these findings and establish causality.
The full study, titled UK medical cannabis registry: A clinical outcome analysis of medical cannabis therapy in chronic pain patients with and without co-morbid sleep impairment, can be found by clicking here.
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