Opioid use in medical cannabis authorization adult patients from 2013 to 2018: Alberta, Canada

BMC Public Health

Jason R. B. Dyck¹  Ed Jess²  Karen J. B. Martins³  Scott Klarenbach³  Lawrence Richer³  Mu Lin⁴  Cerina Lee⁵  Elaine Hyshka⁵  Dean T. Eurich⁵  John G. Hanlon⁶ 

[1] Cardiovascular Research Centre, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;SPOR (Strategy for Patient Oriented Research) Data Platform, Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;School of Public Health, 2-040 Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Research Innovation, University of Alberta, 11203-87 Avenue, T6G 2E1, Edmonton, AB, Canada;St. Michael’s Hospital Department of Anesthesia, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;

关键词: Opioid morphine equivalence;    Opioid;    Chronic pain;    Medical cannabis;    Epidemiology;    Cohort study;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-021-10867-w

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe opioid overdose epidemic in Canada and the United States has become a public health crisis - with exponential increases in opioid-related morbidity and mortality. Recently, there has been an increasing body of evidence focusing on the opioid-sparing effects of medical cannabis use (reduction of opioid use and reliance), and medical cannabis as a potential alternative treatment for chronic pain. The objective of this study is to assess the effect of medical cannabis authorization on opioid use (oral morphine equivalent; OME) between 2013 and 2018 in Alberta, Canada.MethodsAll adult patients defined as chronic opioid users who were authorized medical cannabis by their health care provider in Alberta, Canada from 2013 to 2018 were propensity score matched to non-authorized chronic opioid using controls. A total of 5373 medical cannabis patients were matched to controls, who were all chronic opioid users. The change in the weekly average OME of opioid drugs for medical cannabis patients relative to controls was measured. Interrupted time series (ITS) analyses was used to assess the trend change in OME during the 26 weeks (6 months) before and 52 weeks (1 year) after the authorization of medical cannabis among adult chronic opioid users.ResultsAverage age was 52 years and 54% were female. Patients on low dose opioids (< 50 OME) had an increase in their weekly OME per week (absolute increase of 112.1 OME, 95% CI: 104.1 to 120.3); whereas higher dose users (OME > 100), showed a significant decrease over 6 months (− 435.5, 95% CI: − 596.8 to − 274.2) compared to controls.ConclusionsThis short-term study found that medical cannabis authorization showed intermediate effects on opioid use, which was dependent on initial opioid use. Greater observations of changes in OME appear to be in those patients who were on a high dosage of opioids (OME > 100); however, continued surveillance of patients utilizing both opioids and medical cannabis is warranted by clinicians to understand the long-term potential benefits and any harms of ongoing use.

【 授权许可】

CC BY