ArticleMedicines (Basel, Switzerland)2025
Cannabis Use and Analgesic Prescribing in UK Primary Care: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Patients with Osteoarthritis.
Article in Medicines (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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1 citing paper in PubMed.
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThis study aims to assess differences in analgesia prescribing in UK primary care between individuals with osteoarthritis who have a recorded exposure to cannabis use and those who do not.
methodsThis population-based retrospective cohort study included opioid-naïve patients with osteoarthritis (aged 25-85 years) who were active in Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum between 1 January 1995 and 15 December 2023. Patients with osteoarthritis who had current or historic cannabis use recorded were matched to two unexposed individuals by age, sex, smoking status, and health authority. Patients were followed up to assess prescriptions of analgesia. Cox regression was performed adjusted for age, sex, and ethnicity.
results662 exposed patients were matched to 1319 unexposed patients. Cannabis-exposed individuals were more likely to be prescribed opioids (adjusted hazard ratio (HR): 2.06; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.74-2.43;
conclusionsThis study suggests there is an association between coded exposure to cannabis in UK primary care records and increased prescribing of analgesia. Given the relative scarcity of recorded cannabis use relative to its prevalence in the general population, these findings must be interpreted cautiously. The increased hazard of using analgesia and mortality within the cannabis-exposed cohort may be confounded by socioeconomic status and a higher likelihood of coding cannabis use in those experiencing adverse effects after consumption or cannabis misuse disorder.
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