Clinical Summary

Cannabis Therapy Improves Depression Symptoms, Quality of Life, and Sleep Quality

Vinrod Rane, BS Pharm | Disclosures

Takeaway

Initiation of treatment with cannabis-based medicinal products was associated with significant improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms, health-related quality of life, and sleep quality after 1, 3, and 6 months of treatment.

Medicinal cannabis has gained popularity as a potential new treatment for depression.

This was an observational case series that included 129 uncontrolled cases of patients with depression, identified using data from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry.
Primary outcomes: changes in Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Sleep Quality Scale, and EQ-5D-5L from baseline to 1, 3, and 6 months.
Secondary outcome: incidence of adverse events.
Funding: None.

At 1, 3, and 6 months, there were significant improvements in:
- Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scores (P<0.001 for all);
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scores (P<0.001, P<0.001, and P=0.015, respectively);
- Sleep Quality Scale (P<0.001, P<0.001, and P=0.029, respectively);
- EQ-5D-5L usual activities (P<0.001, P<0.001, and P=0.005, respectively);
- anxiety/depression subscores (P<0.001 for all); and
- EQ-5D-5L Index Value (P<0.001, P<0.001, and P=0.003, respectively).
At 1 and 3 months, statistically significant improvements were observed for EQ-5D-5L:
- mobility (P=0.003 and P=0.011, respectively);
- self-care (P=0.009 and P=0.016, respectively); and
- pain and discomfort (P<0.001 for both).
Overall, 153 adverse events were reported, of which 76 (49.7%) were mild, 57 (37.3%) were moderate, and 20 (13.0%) were severe.