Medical Marijuana Leads To ‘Improvements In Physical, Social, Emotional And Pain-Related’ Quality Of Life, Study Shows

A new study finds that patients who used medical marijuana for three months improved on a variety of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures, including physical functioning, bodily pain, social functioning, fatigue and general health.

“Gains were observed in all HRQoL domains assessed after three months of medical marijuana use,” note authors from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Public Health Management Corporation, also in Philadelphia. In several measures, however—including physical functioning and pain—patients’ age played a significant role, “with older participants displaying less improvement than younger participants.”

The longitudinal study, published in the Journal of Cannabis Research last week, followed 438 new medical cannabis patients who completed “semi-structured interviews” both before they began using cannabis and again three months into use. Most participants were recommended marijuana to treat either anxiety disorders (61.9 percent) or pain (53.6 percent).

“New medical marijuana users experienced improvements across all domains of HRQoL over the first three months of medical marijuana use for any of the more than 20 qualifying medical conditions for use in” Pennsylvania, the authors wrote. “Notably, participants endorsed greater than 20 percent increases in ratings of their role limitations due to physical health problems and emotional problems, and in social functioning after three months of medical marijuana use.”

Researchers described the study as “one of the largest longitudinal studies of quality of life in individuals using medical marijuana in the US.”

“The use of medical marijuana for three months was associated with improvements in physical, social, emotional and pain-related HRQoL,” it says. “Ongoing surveillance of HRQoL in individuals with physical and mental health conditions can help to treat the ‘whole person’ and to capture any collateral impact of selected therapeutic approaches as treatment initiates and progresses. Results from this study can help patients, their caregivers, and their providers to make more informed and evidence-based decisions on whether to incorporate medical marijuana into their treatment regimens.”

Lead study author Michelle Lent said in a press release that her team’s research captured how patients’ “lives and health status changed after using these products. In the era of precision medicine, understanding which type of patient may benefit from which type of therapy is of high importance.”

The study provides “evidence to support greater access to, and coverage of, medical cannabis treatments,” she said.

The research was funded by Pennsylvania medical cannabis provider Organic Remedies, Inc., which the paper says played “no role in the study design, or in the analysis or interpretation of data.”

This just in! #PCOM Researchers published the results of one of the largest studies of health-related quality of life in individuals using #medicalmarijuana in the US. Funded by #OrganicRemediesPA as part of #ACRC in PA. https://t.co/v9Al2Aluf6 #JournalofCannabisResearch

— Organic Remedies (@Or_Remedies) September 13, 2024

The study comes on the heels of a new scientific review of research on the impacts of marijuana on inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) that found that cannabinoid therapy helped reduce disease activity and improved quality of life in patients with the chronic diseases.

In March of this year, a separate study in the Journal of Health Research and Medical Science found that “cannabinoids show potential in improving disease activity” and quality of life in patients with ulcerative colitis.

Meanwhile, a study out of Australia last year found that patients with chronic health conditions saw significant improvements in overall quality of life and reductions in fatigue during the first three months of medical marijuana use.

“Patients experiencing anxiety, depression, or chronic pain also improved in those outcomes over 3 months,” that study found.

Findings of another study last year that examined marijuana’s neurocognitive effects “suggest that prescribed medical cannabis may have minimal acute impact on cognitive function among patients with chronic health conditions”—could be a relief to long-term cannabis patients who are concerned about potential neurological drawbacks of the drug.

Yet another study last year, published by the American Medical Association, found that the use of medical marijuana was associated with “significant improvements” in quality of life for people with chronic conditions like pain and insomnia—and those effects were “largely sustained” over time.

Marijuana Use By Older Americans Has Nearly Doubled In The Last Three Years, AARP-Backed Study Shows

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.