Cannabis medicinal como recurso terapéutico: estudio preliminar

Abstract

Introduction: Cannabis sativa L products have a known therapeutic efficacy since ancient times, although their pharmacological classification dates from the mid-twentieth century. Recently its use was regularized in Uruguay.Objective: to analyze a preliminary therapeutic clinical experience with medicinal cannabis (CM) with a high content of cannabidiol (CBD).Method: an observational and retrospective epidemiological study of a cohort of 355 patients who attended to spontaneously consult CM in a private clinic between August 2016 and December 2017. During the first interview demographic data, clinical history, pharmacological, expectations and experience were collected previous with cannabis. Cannabis was indicated mostly with high CBD content (5.25% CBD and 0.2% tetrahydrocannabinol [THC]). In subsequent consultations, access to the CM was investigated and its response and adverse effects were assessed using analog scales. Descriptive statistics was used. Results: in the cohort studied, women with an average age of 67 years, tertiary education level predominated. The consultation pathologies were neurological (38%), rheumatic or arthro-degenerative diseases (37%), neoplasms (13%), psychiatric (4%) and miscellaneous (8%). The majority of these cases (60.6%) reported improvement of their symptoms and only 16.3% of the population studied presented mild side effects. The high costs and difficult management to achieve CM were causes for not starting or abandoning treatment. Conclusions: our preliminary study reflects a positive therapeutic response without significant adverse effects to CM with high CBD content. 60.6% of treated patients reported improvement of their symptoms. The decisive factors for a successful treatment are aimed at facilitating access to the CM, improving management to obtain it and reducing costs for greater accessibility.