London, United Kingdom: Patients with hypermobility spectrum disorders (e.g., Ehlers-Danlos syndrome) experience clinically meaningful reductions in their pain and consume fewer opioids following the use of cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs), according to observational data published in the journal Clinical Rheumatology.
British researchers assessed the use of either botanical cannabis or oil extracts in 240 patients with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or similar hypermobility disorders enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. (British healthcare specialists may prescribe cannabis-based medicinal products to patients unresponsive to conventional medications.) Researchers assessed changes from baseline in patient-reported outcomes at one, three, six, 12, 18 months, and 24 months.
Consistent with prior studies, cannabis treatment was associated with sustained reductions in patients’ pain and improvements in their quality of life. Specifically, some 60 percent of participants achieved “clinically meaningful” pain reductions. Cannabis treatment also resulted in reduced opioid consumption, a finding that is consistent with other studies. Nearly half of the study’s participants reported improvements in their anxiety.
“This represents the largest and longest-duration observational study of medical cannabis therapy specifically in hypermobility spectrum disorders, addressing a critical evidence gap in chronic pain management,” the study’s authors concluded. “Pain-related outcomes demonstrated sustained improvements. The sustained efficacy of CBMPs over the study period positions them as a favorable analgesic option compared with opioids, where long-term use is constrained by tolerance and risk of OUD [opioid use disorder.]”
Other observational studies assessing the use of cannabis products among patients enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry have reported them to be beneficial for those diagnosed with treatment-resistant epilepsy, cancer-related pain, anxiety, endometriosis, inflammatory bowel disease, insomnia, migraine, multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, substance use disorders, and inflammatory arthritis, among other conditions.
Full text of the study, “UK Medical Cannabis Registry: An updated analysis of clinical outcomes of medical cannabis therapy for hypermobility-associated pain,” appears in Clinical Rheumatology.