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Improvements in health-related quality of life are maintained long-term in patients prescribed medicinal cannabis in Australia: The QUEST Initiative 12-month follow-up observational study
Journal article   Open access

Improvements in health-related quality of life are maintained long-term in patients prescribed medicinal cannabis in Australia: The QUEST Initiative 12-month follow-up observational study

Margaret-Ann Tait, Daniel S.J. Costa, Rachel Campbell, Leon Warne, Richard Norman, Stephan Schug and Claudia Rutherford
PLoS ONE, Vol.20(4), e0320756
2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320756
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Published2.74 MBDownloadView
CC BY V4.0,  Open Access

Abstract

Aims Since 2016, more than one million new patients with chronic health conditions have been prescribed medicinal cannabis in Australia. We aimed to assess overall health-related quality of life (HRQL), pain, fatigue, sleep, anxiety, depression, and motor function in a large real-world sample of patients prescribed medicinal cannabis. We previously found all patient-reported outcomes improved in the first 3-months and hypothesised that improvements would be maintained to 12-months. Methods The QUEST Initiative, a multicentre prospective study, recruited adult patients with any chronic health condition newly prescribed medicinal cannabis oil between November 2020 and December 2021. Participants identified by 114 clinicians across Australia completed validated questionnaires at baseline, then 2-weeks titration, and 1-,2-,3-,5-,7-,9- and 12-months follow-up. Results Of 2744 consenting participants who completed baseline assessments, 2353 also completed at least one follow-up questionnaire and were included in analyses, with completion rates declining to 778/2353 (38%) at 12-months. Ages ranged between 18–97 years (mean 50.4y; SD = 15.4), 62.8% were female. Chronic conditions commonly treated included musculoskeletal pain (n = 896/2353; 38.1%), neuropathic pain (n = 547/2353; 23.2%), insomnia (n = 546/2353; 23.2%), anxiety (n = 520/2353; 22.1%), and mixed depressive and anxiety disorder (n = 263/2353; 11.2%). Clinically meaningful improvements were observed in HRQL: EQ-5D-5L index (d = 0.52) and QLQ-C30 summary scores (d = 0.91), PROMIS fatigue (d = 0.51) and sleep disturbance (d = 0.76). Participants diagnosed with chronic pain experienced clinically meaningful improvement in scores on QLQ-C30 pain (d = 0.5), PROMIS pain intensity (d = 0.76), and PROMIS pain interference (d = 0.76). There was significant improvement in DASS anxiety (d = 0.69) and DASS depression (d = 0.65) for those with anxiety or depressive conditions, but no motor function improvements observed for participants with movement disorders. All observed improvements were statistically significant. Conclusions Statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in overall HRQL, fatigue, and sleep disturbance were maintained over 12-months in patients prescribed medical cannabis for chronic health conditions. Anxiety, depression, insomnia, and pain also improved over time for those with corresponding health conditions.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Citation topics
1 Clinical & Life Sciences
1.100 Substance Abuse
1.100.625 Cannabinoids
Web Of Science research areas
Multidisciplinary Sciences
ESI research areas
Clinical Medicine
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