Medical Cannabis Reduces Pain, Insomnia Or Mood Issues In 91% Of Older Adults, Study Finds

A new preprint study reports that 91 percent of older adults receiving supervised medical cannabis experienced at least a one-point reduction in pain, insomnia, or mood and behavioral symptoms. The research followed 124 people over age 65 in Colombia, most of whom had not previously used marijuana, and found progressive symptom improvement across follow-up visits.

Medical cannabis was associated with symptom improvement in 91 percent of older adults, according to a preprint study involving 124 people over age 65 who received treatment from a specialized practice in Colombia. Most participants had not previously used marijuana, and the most frequent diagnoses were pain-related and musculoskeletal disorders, cancer, and neurodegenerative or non-degenerative neurological disorders.

Treating physicians recorded symptoms on a four-point scale, and researchers defined improvement as a reduction of at least one point in severity relative to baseline. The paper reported that symptom severity decreased significantly across the three main symptom domains, with improvement in approximately 90 percent of patients.

The first documented improvement occurred at the second visit in 67.7 percent of patients with pain, 65.4 percent of those with insomnia, and 73.9 percent of those with mood or behavioral symptoms. Median times to first improvement were three months for pain, two months for insomnia, and one month for mood or behavioral symptoms.

Median severity scores for pain, insomnia, and mood or behavioral symptoms decreased significantly from baseline to the last available assessment, and no patient showed worsening of symptom severity. The researchers also noted strong effect sizes for descriptive improvements in digestive and motor symptoms, appetite, well-being, and physical strength, though those were not statistically significant.

The study found that clinically effective doses were low, typically using just a few milligrams per day of THC, CBD, or CBG, most commonly administered in oral oil-based formulations. While the overall medication burden remained stable, dose reductions or discontinuations of concomitant medications occurred in a quarter of patients.

The researchers concluded that older adults receiving supervised medical cannabis experienced favorable symptom evolution during follow-up, with a clinically acceptable safety profile and consistently low documented clinically effective doses. They cautioned that the observational nature of the study means causality cannot be inferred, and they plan to follow up with larger cohorts in Colombia, Argentina, and Chile.

The study received funding from the European Union and has been made available as a preprint but has not yet been published in a journal.