New Study: Cannabis reduces symptoms and improves quality of life in cancer patients
It was published in June 2022 in Advances in Informatics, Management and Technology in Healthcare. The cross-sectional study examined symptom management (fatigue, nausea, vomiting, appetite, insomnia, pain) and quality of life of palliative cancer patients and compared the perceived QoL outcomes between standard treatment (ST) and cannabis treatment (CT).
Palliative treatments focus on symptom management with the end goal to improve patients quality of life. It does not necessarily treat the underlying condition, or root-cause of the symptoms.
The study used in-person interviews of 120 late-stage out-patient cancer patients between February and September 2021 in two hospitals in Thailand. The 3 major types of cancer diagnosed were liver, breast, and colon cancers. They used three cannabis liquid extract regimens:
- 12.5mg THC per 1mL
- 27mg THC + 25mg CBD per 1 mL
- 2.5mg THC + 0.5mg CBD per 1 mL
The major outcome of the study was that both CT and ST resulted in improved quality of life, but the CT (cannabis) group had higher scores (5.6 vs. 4.8).
- "The results found that patients of CT groups had a very high level of QoL while ST group had a high level.
- The results confirm that established the efficacy and safety of medical use of cannabis was benefit for patients."
The abstract and link to download the paper are here at IOS Press.