Characterizing anxiety, pain, sleep, and quality of life among patients in a state Medical Marijuana Program

Background: Cannabis is increasingly used for symptom management, but its effects on health-related quality of life (QoL) have been inconclusive. Objectives: The goal of the present study was to characterize self-reported symptoms and QoL among patients certified to use medical cannabis. Methods: These data are from the baseline assessment of a 12-month longitudinal study. The survey assessed certifying conditions, current medications, symptoms and symptom severity. QoL was assessed using the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Palliative Care (FACIT-Pal) which includes Physical Well-Being (PWB), Social/Family Well-Being (SWB), Emotional Well-Being (EWB), Functional Well-Being (FWB), and the Palliative Care subscale. Higher scores indicated better QoL. Results: Overall, 210 patients (114 female, 92 male, 3 non-binary, 1 refused) completed the survey. The most common certifying conditions were pain (48.6%), anxiety (36.7%), and PTSD (15.7%) and the most common symptoms were anxiety (65.2%), pain (56.7%), sleep disturbance (38.6%), and depression (31.4%). Compared to normative data, this sample reported lower QoL, specifically EWB and SWB scores (i.e., T-Scores<45). Opioid/benzodiazepine/sedative-hypnotic use was associated with lower QoL on all subscales (except SWB and FWB) (ps < 0.05). Greater number of self-reported symptoms and medical conditions were associated with lower QoL (ps < 0.01). Conclusion: Despite mixed evidence regarding cannabis’ efficacy for anxiety, 36.7% of the current sample were certified by a physician for anxiety. Lower QoL was associated with more self-reported comorbid medical conditions, higher total symptom count, and reported use of an opioid and/or benzodiazepine. Future longitudinal data will provide critical information regarding the trajectory of these symptoms and QoL.