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Attitudes and Knowledge of Australian Gastroenterologists Around the Use of Medicinal Cannabis for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

BACKGROUND: Medicinal cannabis (MC) is being used for symptomatic relief by many patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), often independently of clinical guidance. Such use presents challenges for supporting clinicians. The aim of this study was to determine the current attitudes, knowledge,...

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Autores principales: Benson, Melissa J, Abelev, Sarah V, Corte, Crispin J, Connor, Susan J, McGregor, Iain S
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9802365/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36777304
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/crocol/otaa045
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author Benson, Melissa J
Abelev, Sarah V
Corte, Crispin J
Connor, Susan J
McGregor, Iain S
author_facet Benson, Melissa J
Abelev, Sarah V
Corte, Crispin J
Connor, Susan J
McGregor, Iain S
author_sort Benson, Melissa J
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Medicinal cannabis (MC) is being used for symptomatic relief by many patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), often independently of clinical guidance. Such use presents challenges for supporting clinicians. The aim of this study was to determine the current attitudes, knowledge, and experience of gastroenterologists toward patient use of MC for symptom management in IBD. METHODS: Australian gastroenterologists (n = 70) and trainees (n = 23) completed an anonymous, 30-item questionnaire, probing their knowledge, attitudes, and experience with MC in managing IBD. Survey data were collected between April and August 2019. RESULTS: Thirty-nine percent of survey respondents reported having patients using MC; however, only a minority supported use of MC in IBD (21%) or expressed a desire to prescribe (28%). Only 6% claimed good understanding of current patient access pathways and only 31% felt comfortable discussing MC with their patients. Some respondents (20%) cited adverse side effects as a reason for not wanting to prescribe, with driving impairment (64%) and impacts on the developing brain (56%) cited as significant concerns. Nonetheless, MC was ranked as less hazardous than corticosteroids, immunomodulators, and biologics by most respondents, and many (53%) were encouraging of patient participation in future clinical trials. CONCLUSIONS: Specialist support for the use of MC in IBD patients is relatively low, potentially reflecting the lack of experience and knowledge with MC, uncertain evidence for efficacy, and the often-unorthodox nature of current MC use in patients. This situation may change rapidly with increased familiarity, evidence development, and education around MC prescribing.
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spelling pubmed-98023652023-02-10 Attitudes and Knowledge of Australian Gastroenterologists Around the Use of Medicinal Cannabis for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Benson, Melissa J Abelev, Sarah V Corte, Crispin J Connor, Susan J McGregor, Iain S Crohns Colitis 360 Observations and Research BACKGROUND: Medicinal cannabis (MC) is being used for symptomatic relief by many patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), often independently of clinical guidance. Such use presents challenges for supporting clinicians. The aim of this study was to determine the current attitudes, knowledge, and experience of gastroenterologists toward patient use of MC for symptom management in IBD. METHODS: Australian gastroenterologists (n = 70) and trainees (n = 23) completed an anonymous, 30-item questionnaire, probing their knowledge, attitudes, and experience with MC in managing IBD. Survey data were collected between April and August 2019. RESULTS: Thirty-nine percent of survey respondents reported having patients using MC; however, only a minority supported use of MC in IBD (21%) or expressed a desire to prescribe (28%). Only 6% claimed good understanding of current patient access pathways and only 31% felt comfortable discussing MC with their patients. Some respondents (20%) cited adverse side effects as a reason for not wanting to prescribe, with driving impairment (64%) and impacts on the developing brain (56%) cited as significant concerns. Nonetheless, MC was ranked as less hazardous than corticosteroids, immunomodulators, and biologics by most respondents, and many (53%) were encouraging of patient participation in future clinical trials. CONCLUSIONS: Specialist support for the use of MC in IBD patients is relatively low, potentially reflecting the lack of experience and knowledge with MC, uncertain evidence for efficacy, and the often-unorthodox nature of current MC use in patients. This situation may change rapidly with increased familiarity, evidence development, and education around MC prescribing. Oxford University Press 2020-06-08 /pmc/articles/PMC9802365/ /pubmed/36777304 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/crocol/otaa045 Text en © 2020 Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Crohn's & Colitis Foundation. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Observations and Research
Benson, Melissa J
Abelev, Sarah V
Corte, Crispin J
Connor, Susan J
McGregor, Iain S
Attitudes and Knowledge of Australian Gastroenterologists Around the Use of Medicinal Cannabis for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
title Attitudes and Knowledge of Australian Gastroenterologists Around the Use of Medicinal Cannabis for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
title_full Attitudes and Knowledge of Australian Gastroenterologists Around the Use of Medicinal Cannabis for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
title_fullStr Attitudes and Knowledge of Australian Gastroenterologists Around the Use of Medicinal Cannabis for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
title_full_unstemmed Attitudes and Knowledge of Australian Gastroenterologists Around the Use of Medicinal Cannabis for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
title_short Attitudes and Knowledge of Australian Gastroenterologists Around the Use of Medicinal Cannabis for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
title_sort attitudes and knowledge of australian gastroenterologists around the use of medicinal cannabis for inflammatory bowel disease
topic Observations and Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9802365/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36777304
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/crocol/otaa045
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