Cannabis linked to improvements in fatigue and quality of life – study

Australian patients with chronic health issues showed significant improvements in overall health-related quality of life and fatigue in the first three months of treatment with medical cannabis, a new study has found.

The paper, published in the journal PLOS ONE, also noted that participants reported improvements in anxiety, depression, and pain, however, the treatment did not seem to improve sleep disturbances.

Since 2016 in Australia, medical cannabis has been approved for prescription to patients with health conditions unresponsive to other treatment. 

Lead author Margaret-Ann Tait and colleagues and the University of Sydney, surveyed a group of patients with chronic health conditions to better understand any changes in patient-reported outcomes following cannabis treatment.

The authors used responses from 2,327 Australian patients with chronic health issues prescribed a product containing THC and CBD dissolved in a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) carrier oil, between November 2020 and December 2021. 

Patients were surveyed about their self-reported health-related quality of life, pain, sleep, anxiety, and depression prior to beginning cannabis therapy, after two weeks of treatment, then once a month for three months.

The majority (63%) of the surveyed patients were female, with an age range of 18-97 years.

The most-reported conditions being treated were chronic pain (69%) insomnia (23%); anxiety (22%); and anxiety/depression (11%); half of the patients were being treated for more than one condition.

Patients reported significant, clinically-meaningful improvements in health-related quality of life and fatigue measurements across the three months surveyed. 

Clinically meaningful reductions in pain and significant improvements for moderate-severe anxiety and depression were also reported. However, though many patients were prescribed cannabis for insomnia, there were no overall improvements in patient-reported sleep disturbance. 

The authors did not measure adverse effects as part of the study, though 30 patients formally withdrew from the study due to ‘unwanted side effects’. 

Regardless, the authors say these results suggest medical cannabis may be effective in helping manage previously-untreatable chronic conditions. They also note that more research and development of the cannabis oil products used in this study may be needed in order to successfully treat patients with insomnia and sleep disorders.

They state: “Our findings suggest that prescribing MC may alleviate symptoms of pain, fatigue, anxiety and depression in patients with chronic health conditions and improve overall HRQL… More research is needed to understand the full effects of MC for treating sleep-related conditions, and possibly identify optimal MC formulations, dosing and routes of administration.”

Access the full study here