Medical marijuana use may reduce reliance on emergency and urgent care services for individuals with chronic pain, according to a large new study published in the journal Pharmacy.
Researchers from George Mason University analyzed health and survey data from more than 5,200 adults across 36 states who received medical marijuana certifications through a telehealth platform. They found that patients who had used medical cannabis for at least one year reported significantly lower rates of emergency room and urgent care visits compared to those with no recent cannabis exposure.
Specifically, medical marijuana use was associated with a 3.2%reduction in emergency department visits and a 2% decrease in urgent care visits. These represent relative reductions of approximately 33% and 27%, respectively.
In addition to fewer acute-care visits, the study also found that medical cannabis users reported better overall quality of life. On average, they experienced 3.5 fewer unhealthy days per month than non-users. Hospitalization rates also trended lower.
The analysis relied on advanced statistical modeling using Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation with machine learning, helping control for a wide range of demographic and health-related factors. The authors note that while the results support previous findings on the benefits of medical marijuana for chronic pain, this is one of the first large-scale studies to directly link cannabis use with reduced healthcare utilization.
The researchers concludes:
The findings of this study suggest, in line with existing research, that medical cannabis is likely an effective treatment option for patients with chronic pain. Moreover, we found that, in addition to an increase in QoL, medical cannabis exposure is associated with lower risk of urgent care and ED visits, when comparing patients who used medical cannabis for at least one year to cannabis-naïve patients. This underscores the potential for not only QoL gains associated with medical cannabis use, but also positive downstream effects on the healthcare system resulting from treatment.
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