• J Pain Symptom Manage · Jun 2020

    Medical Cannabis Authorization in Patients with Cancer in the Pre-legalization Era: A Population-based Study.

    • Safiya Karim, Winson Y Cheung, Jingyu Bu, Ed Jess, and Marc Kerba.
    • Department of Oncology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: safiya.karim@ahs.ca.
    • J Pain Symptom Manage. 2020 Jun 1; 59 (6): 1223-1231.

    ContextStudies show that patients with cancer use cannabis to manage symptoms and side effects. Medical cannabis is regulated by Health Canada; authorization patterns among cancer patients have not been well described.ObjectivesThe aim of the study is to describe medical cannabis authorization in Alberta, Canada.MethodsThe Alberta Cancer Registry was used to identify all patients aged 18 years and older diagnosed with invasive cancer from April 1, 2014 to December 31, 2016. These cases were linked to records from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were constructed to determine factors associated with medical cannabis authorization.ResultsWe identified 41,889 patients with cancer between April 1, 2014 and December 31, 2016. Of these patients, 1070 (2.6%) had a medical cannabis authorization. Fifty-one percent (541 of 1070) were authorized to use medical cannabis within one year of diagnosis, 52% (248 of 549) within one year of the start of systemic therapy, and 41% (128 of 312) within one year of the start of radiation therapy. Patients aged 18-29 (odds ratio [OR] 12.4; 95% CI 7.8-19.8), patients living in the Calgary zone (OR 1.8; 95% CI 1.6-2.1), those with advanced disease (Stage III/IV: OR 1.2; 95% CI 1.0-1.4), and those receiving systemic therapy (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.7-2.4) were more likely to have an authorization for medical cannabis (P < 0.001).ConclusionA small proportion of patients with cancer were authorized to use medical cannabis between 2014 and 2016 in Alberta. Authorization was associated with a cancer diagnosis and receiving treatment. Younger patients, those with advanced stage disease, and those undergoing systemic treatment were predictors of medical cannabis authorization.Copyright © 2020 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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