Developing a real-world evidence base for prescribed cannabis in the United Kingdom: preliminary findings from Project Twenty21

We describe the health status of all patients enrolled into the project during its f irst 7 months of operation and the sociodemographic characteristics and primary presenting conditions for these patients, as well as details of the medical cannabis prescribed to these individuals. By 12th March 2021, 678 people had been enrolled into T21; the majority (64%) were male and their ave rage age was 38.7 years (range = 18–80). The most commonly reported primary conditions were chronic pain (55.6%) and anxiety disorders (32.0%) and they reported high levels of multi-morbidity, including high rates of insomnia and depression. We also present preliminary evidence from 75 patien ts followed up after 3 months indicating that receipt of legal, prescribed cannabis was associated with a significant increase in self-reported health, assessed using the visual analogue scale of the EQ-5D-5L (Cohen’sd = .77, 95% CI = .51–1.03). Our initial findings complement reports from other large-scale databases globally, indicating that the current RWD is building up a pattern of evidence. With many clinicians demanding better and faster evidence to inform their decisions around prescribing medica l cannabis, the current and future results of T21 will expand the existing evidence base on the effectiveness of cannabis-based medical products (CBMPs).
Source: Psychopharmacology - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research