Effectiveness of Cannabis Oil Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) 1.7% w/v Formula in Medical Cannabis Clinic, Mukdahan Hospital

Abstract

Purpose : To study the effectiveness of Cannabis oil 1.7% THC formula for sublingual use at Medical Cannabis Clinic, Mukdahan Hospital.

Study design : Retrospective cohort study.

Materials and Methods : A retrospective cohort study was conducted using medical records of all patients who were treated by 1.7% THC cannabis oil at the medical cannabis clinic at Mukdahan Hospital and had at least 1 visit for monitoring purpose during October 2021 to May 2022. The effectiveness of cannabis oil was assessed by patients’ quality of life using EQ-5D-5L, pain relief was evaluated by pain score, while the safety of cannabis oil used was simultaneously monitored using Naranjo’s algorithm.

Main findings : Thirty-five patients were treated by cannabis oil during the study period. 22 were male (62.86%), with average age was 65.48 years old. Indications for the use of cannabis oil included palliative care (22, 62.86%), Insomnia (5, 14.29%), Cancer pain (4, 11.43%), Chronic pain (2, 5.71%), Multiple sclerosis (1, 2.86%), and epilepsy (1, 2.86%). After 8-time monitoring with one-month interval, the results revealed that patients’ quality of life were improved significantly from baseline utility of 0.875±0.180 (range 0.016-1.000) to 0.960± 0.071 (0.928-1.000) at the eighth visit, with p<.001. Regarding the pain relief, the study illustrated that average pain scores were decreased from 2.91±3.06 to 0.60±1.34. There were 3 patients using cannabis oil having adverse events (8.57%) assessed by Naranjo’s algorithm.

Conclusion and recommendations : The study has shown that 1.7% THC cannabis oil may improve quality of life of patients, and may help relieve pain. However, the safety concern should be considered for cannabis oil used. Thus, 1.7% THC cannabis oil may be considered as the alternative for patient treatment. Nevertheless, the studies with more patients included are needed.