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A national study of clinical discussions about cannabis use among Veteran patients prescribed opioids.
- Source :
- Journal of Cannabis Research; 3/16/2024, Vol. 6 Issue 1, p1-11, 11p
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Background: The Veterans Health Administration tracks urine drug tests (UDTs) among patients on long-term opioid therapy (LTOT) and recommends discussing the health effects of cannabis use. Objective: To determine the occurrence of cannabis-related discussions between providers and patients on LTOT during six months following UDT positive for cannabis, and examine factors associated with documenting cannabis use. Design: We identified patients prescribed LTOT with a UDT positive for cannabis in 2019. We developed a text-processing tool to extract discussions around cannabis use from their charts. Subjects: Twelve thousand seventy patients were included. Chart review was conducted on a random sample of 1,946 patients. Main measures: The presence of a cannabis term in the chart suggesting documented cannabis use or cannabis-related discussions. Content of those discussions was extracted in a subset of patients. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between patient factors, including state of residence legal status, with documentation of cannabis use. Key Results: Among the 12,070 patients, 65.8% (N = 7,948) had a cannabis term, whereas 34.1% (N = 4,122) of patients lacked a cannabis term, suggesting that no documentation of cannabis use or discussion between provider and patient took place. Among the subset of patients who had a discussion documented, 47% related to cannabis use for medical reasons, 35% related to a discussion of VA policy or legal issues, and 17% related to a discussion specific to medical risks or harm reduction strategies. In adjusted analyses, residents of states with legalized recreational cannabis were less likely to have any cannabis-related discussion compared to patients in non-legal states [OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.64–0.82]. Conclusions: One-third of LTOT patients did not have documentation of cannabis use in the chart in the 6 months following a positive UDT for cannabis. Discussions related to the medical risks of cannabis use or harm reduction strategies were uncommon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- VETERANS
VETERANS' health
HARM reduction
OPIOIDS
MEDICAL marijuana
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 25225782
- Volume :
- 6
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Cannabis Research
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 176082885
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s42238-024-00221-3