London, United Kingdom: Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients report improvements in their health-related quality of life following the use of medical cannabis preparations, according to observational data published in the journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders.
British researchers assessed the use of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) consisting of either flower or oil extracts in 141 MS patients enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. (Since 2018, British specialists have been permitted to prescribe cannabis-based medicinal products to patients unresponsive to conventional medications.) Researchers assessed changes in patient-reported outcomes measures at one month, three months, and six months.
Patients reported sustained improvements in their physical and mental health following cannabis therapy. They reported few serious adverse health effects during treatment.
“This case series demonstrates a potential association between [the] initiation of CBMPs and improved patient reported outcomes in sleep, anxiety and general HRQoL [health-related quality of life] measures, over six months,” the study’s authors concluded. “Additional measures for HRQoL, including various physical and mental health subdomains, also exhibit improvements up to six months when compared to baseline.”
A prescription cannabis spray (nabiximols aka Sativex) consisting of specific ratios of THC and CBD is currently available in several countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The drug is not approved in the United States for treatment of any condition.
Full text of the study, “Clinical outcome analysis of patients with multiple sclerosis – Analysis from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry,” appears in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. Additional information on cannabis and multiple sclerosis is available from NORML’s publication, Clinical Applications for Cannabis & Cannabinoids.