Older adults report ‘considerable improvements’ with medical cannabis

A new study suggests that adults aged 65 and older experience “considerable improvements” in their health and wellbeing when prescribed cannabis-based medicines.

The use of medical cannabis is said to be on the rise among older individuals, yet little research has been done to understand the effectiveness of the treatment among this age group.

Researchers from Drug Science aimed to address this by examining the characteristics and outcomes of 198 patients aged 65 and older, enrolled on the patient registry, T21. 

Participants completed self-report questionnaires related to quality of life, sleep, mood and general health, with follow-up data collected from 98 individuals after three months. Their findings were published in the journal Drugs and Aging this month. 

Differences in characteristics

The research team identified “several notable differences” between older adults and the younger patients in the remaining sample. 

While the majority (65.1%) of those aged under 65 years were male, over half (52%) of those in the older age group identified as female.

Older patients were also more likely to report chronic pain as their primary condition and on average were using a higher number of prescribed medications. This was balanced by a “substantially lower rate” of psychiatric disorders among older individuals.

On beginning treatment, older patients also reported “significantly poorer” quality of life and general health but were less likely to have either used cannabis or to report using it daily.

Prescribing trends

There were also important differences in the types of cannabis products being prescribed to younger and older individuals. 

According to the findings, those aged over 64 years received fewer cannabis-based medicinal products. They were more likely to be prescribed a CBD dominant oil and less likely to receive THC dominant flower.

This is likely a combination of concern about “potential drug interactions” on behalf of clinicians and older people’s “less common experience with THC”, the authors say.

Real-word evidence

“Despite these differences, there was evidence of consistent improvement across multiple measures of well-being for these individuals after initiating use of medical cannabis,” they write in the paper’s discussion.

“There were also sizable reductions in pain severity and pain interference.” 

As many randomised controlled trials have excluded those aged 64 and older, the researchers highlight the importance of observational research to assess the potential effectiveness of cannabis for this age group.

They added: “International evidence that older individuals may be the fastest-growing increase in the use of medicinal cannabis, coupled with their frequent exclusion from controlled trials, indicates a growing need for real-world evidence to assess the effectiveness and safety of these drugs for older individuals.”