Investigation of the efficacy of cannabis oil in patients with psoriasisinChaturaphakphiman Hospital, Roi-Etprovince, northeast Thailand

Abstract

Purposes : This study aims to investigate the efficacy of cannabis oil in patients with psoriasis coupled with their quality of life by comparing before and after administration of the cannabis oil.

Study design : A quasi-experimental study (One Group Pretest Posttest Design) was used as a study design.

Materials and Methods : This study included 11 patients from March to July 2023. Before treatment, the patients were asked to determine the severity of psoriasis using the questionnaire for the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), and the quality of life was evaluated using the questionnaire for the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). The patients were treated by applying cannabis oil to the skin, and the PASI and DLQI were evaluated again after treatment. The paired t-test was used as a statistical analysis.

Main findings : The results demonstrated that, after treatment, the average severity of psoriasis was significantly decreased (p=.002). The average PASI score was less than 0.91 (95%CI: 0.44,1.38). Moreover, the quality of life was significantly increased (p<.001) with an average DLQI score of more than 7.27 (95%CI: 5.68,8.69).

Conclusion and recommendations : Our findings indicated that cannabis oil can reduce the severity ofpsoriasis and increase the quality of life of the patients. We suggested that it could be an alternative treatment for psoriasis patients. However, this concept needs to be proven in a larger sample size to reach a definite conclusion.