Assessing Health-Related Outcomes of Medical Cannabis Use among Older Persons: Findings from Colorado and Illinois
ABSTRACT
Objectives
To assess health-related outcomes associated with medical cannabis use among older patients in Colorado and Illinois enrolled in their home state’s medical cannabis program.
Methods
Cross-sectional data from anonymous surveys were collected from 139 persons over the age of 60 using medical cannabis in the past year. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to confirm the hypothesized four-factor structure that includes health-related quality of life (HRQL), health-care utilization (HCU), symptom effects, and adverse events. We then examined associations between cannabis use and self-reported outcome changes using linear regression.
Stories you may be interested in
Cannabis and Mental Health: Social Anxiety Disorder
Social anxiety may sound like something we all experience at times in life, and that is true. It is natural for a person to feel nervous or anxious in situations like being alone in a new place or going on a first date. But for those living with social anxiety disorder, those instances of anxiety…
Read More After marijuana edibles helped dying Holocaust survivor battle Alzheimer’s, his family’s foundation pushes for more research
A Massachusetts family’s experience giving marijuana edibles to their dying patriarch is set to kick off a desperately needed investigation into how cannabis might treat some of the more troubling symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, a condition that affects 5.7 million Americans. Read the full story here.
Read More Cannabis and Seniors
As more and more research comes out regarding the medical benefits of cannabis, it’s important to keep up with new research as it becomes available. Here at Arfinn Med, we constantly review new studies and look at our own deidentified efficacy data to try to find any additional insights we can relay to our registered…
Read More States with medical marijuana laws saw 20 percent drop in some opioid prescriptions
States with active medical marijuana laws saw certain opioid prescription rates drop nearly 20 percent compared to states without medical marijuana programs, according to a first-of-its-kind study out of Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center. Authors said the findings underscore the importance of providing patients with pain management alternatives, such as cannabis, in efforts to reduce…
Read More New Feature Updates
It’s a new feature alert! At Arfinn Med we always work to make sure we are the industry leading software platform and EMR for medical cannabis providers and clinics. Keeping with that sentiment, we’ve recently updated two features that have been very popular with Arfinn Med users. Those are the customizable consent and confirmation page…
Read More New Feature: Text Message Treatment Updates
New to the Arfinn Med portal comes the ability to receive real time updates from patients via text messaging. This new addition will allow physicians to stay up to date on current patient efficacies as well as streamline the data collection process. Through the new text messaging function, physicians are able to send patients automated…
Read More