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Medicinal cannabis for psychiatry-related conditions: an overview of current Australian prescribing
Objective: Evidence is accumulating that components of the Cannabis sativa plant may have therapeutic potential in treating psychiatric disorders. Medicinal cannabis (MC) products are legally available for prescription in Australia, primarily through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Specia...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10279775/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37346297 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2023.1142680 |
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author | Cairns, Elizabeth A. Benson, Melissa J. Bedoya-Pérez, Miguel A. Macphail, Sara L. Mohan, Adith Cohen, Rhys Sachdev, Perminder S. McGregor, Iain S. |
author_facet | Cairns, Elizabeth A. Benson, Melissa J. Bedoya-Pérez, Miguel A. Macphail, Sara L. Mohan, Adith Cohen, Rhys Sachdev, Perminder S. McGregor, Iain S. |
author_sort | Cairns, Elizabeth A. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Objective: Evidence is accumulating that components of the Cannabis sativa plant may have therapeutic potential in treating psychiatric disorders. Medicinal cannabis (MC) products are legally available for prescription in Australia, primarily through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Special Access Scheme B (SAS-B). Here we investigated recent prescribing practices for psychiatric indications under SAS-B by Australian doctors. Methods: The dataset, obtained from the TGA, included information on MC applications made by doctors through the SAS-B process between 1st November 2016 and 30th September 2022 inclusive. Details included the primary conditions treated, patient demographics, prescriber location, product type (e.g., oil, flower or capsule) and the general cannabinoid content of products. The conditions treated were categorized according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, text revision (DSM-5-TR). Trends in prescribing for conditions over time were analyzed via polynomial regression, and relationships between categorical variables determined via correspondence analyses. Results: Approximately 300,000 SAS-B approvals to prescribe MC had been issued in the time period under investigation. This included approvals for 38 different DSM-5-TR defined psychiatric conditions (33.9% of total approvals). The majority of approvals were for anxiety disorders (66.7% of psychiatry-related prescribing), sleep-wake disorders (18.2%), trauma- and stressor-related disorders (5.8%), and neurodevelopmental disorders (4.4%). Oil products were most prescribed (53.0%), followed by flower (31.2%) and other inhaled products (12.4%). CBD-dominant products comprised around 20% of total prescribing and were particularly prevalent in the treatment of autism spectrum disorder. The largest proportion of approvals was for patients aged 25–39 years (46.2% of approvals). Recent dramatic increases in prescribing for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were identified. Conclusion: A significant proportion of MC prescribing in Australia is for psychiatry-related indications. This prescribing often appears somewhat “experimental”, given it involves conditions (e.g., ADHD, depression) for which definitive clinical evidence of MC efficacy is lacking. The high prevalence of THC-containing products being prescribed is of possible concern given the psychiatric problems associated with this drug. Evidence-based clinical guidance around the use of MC products in psychiatry is lacking and would clearly be of benefit to prescribers. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10279775 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-102797752023-06-21 Medicinal cannabis for psychiatry-related conditions: an overview of current Australian prescribing Cairns, Elizabeth A. Benson, Melissa J. Bedoya-Pérez, Miguel A. Macphail, Sara L. Mohan, Adith Cohen, Rhys Sachdev, Perminder S. McGregor, Iain S. Front Pharmacol Pharmacology Objective: Evidence is accumulating that components of the Cannabis sativa plant may have therapeutic potential in treating psychiatric disorders. Medicinal cannabis (MC) products are legally available for prescription in Australia, primarily through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Special Access Scheme B (SAS-B). Here we investigated recent prescribing practices for psychiatric indications under SAS-B by Australian doctors. Methods: The dataset, obtained from the TGA, included information on MC applications made by doctors through the SAS-B process between 1st November 2016 and 30th September 2022 inclusive. Details included the primary conditions treated, patient demographics, prescriber location, product type (e.g., oil, flower or capsule) and the general cannabinoid content of products. The conditions treated were categorized according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, text revision (DSM-5-TR). Trends in prescribing for conditions over time were analyzed via polynomial regression, and relationships between categorical variables determined via correspondence analyses. Results: Approximately 300,000 SAS-B approvals to prescribe MC had been issued in the time period under investigation. This included approvals for 38 different DSM-5-TR defined psychiatric conditions (33.9% of total approvals). The majority of approvals were for anxiety disorders (66.7% of psychiatry-related prescribing), sleep-wake disorders (18.2%), trauma- and stressor-related disorders (5.8%), and neurodevelopmental disorders (4.4%). Oil products were most prescribed (53.0%), followed by flower (31.2%) and other inhaled products (12.4%). CBD-dominant products comprised around 20% of total prescribing and were particularly prevalent in the treatment of autism spectrum disorder. The largest proportion of approvals was for patients aged 25–39 years (46.2% of approvals). Recent dramatic increases in prescribing for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were identified. Conclusion: A significant proportion of MC prescribing in Australia is for psychiatry-related indications. This prescribing often appears somewhat “experimental”, given it involves conditions (e.g., ADHD, depression) for which definitive clinical evidence of MC efficacy is lacking. The high prevalence of THC-containing products being prescribed is of possible concern given the psychiatric problems associated with this drug. Evidence-based clinical guidance around the use of MC products in psychiatry is lacking and would clearly be of benefit to prescribers. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-06-06 /pmc/articles/PMC10279775/ /pubmed/37346297 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2023.1142680 Text en Copyright © 2023 Cairns, Benson, Bedoya-Pérez, Macphail, Mohan, Cohen, Sachdev and McGregor. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Pharmacology Cairns, Elizabeth A. Benson, Melissa J. Bedoya-Pérez, Miguel A. Macphail, Sara L. Mohan, Adith Cohen, Rhys Sachdev, Perminder S. McGregor, Iain S. Medicinal cannabis for psychiatry-related conditions: an overview of current Australian prescribing |
title | Medicinal cannabis for psychiatry-related conditions: an overview of current Australian prescribing |
title_full | Medicinal cannabis for psychiatry-related conditions: an overview of current Australian prescribing |
title_fullStr | Medicinal cannabis for psychiatry-related conditions: an overview of current Australian prescribing |
title_full_unstemmed | Medicinal cannabis for psychiatry-related conditions: an overview of current Australian prescribing |
title_short | Medicinal cannabis for psychiatry-related conditions: an overview of current Australian prescribing |
title_sort | medicinal cannabis for psychiatry-related conditions: an overview of current australian prescribing |
topic | Pharmacology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10279775/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37346297 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2023.1142680 |
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