Quality of life and cannabis use among patients with drug‐resistant epilepsy—An observational study from a Canadian tertiary care referral center

Abstract

ObjectiveVery few publications have reported the impact of artisanal cannabis use on overall quality of life among people with drug‐resistant epilepsy. This study aimed to evaluate the association of artisanal cannabis use among adults with drug‐resistant epilepsy with quality of life, and to determine if an association exists between Quality‐of‐Life in Epilepsy Inventory‐31 (QOLIE‐31) ‘T scores’ and different clinical variables.MethodsThis study included patients admitted to a Canadian tertiary care epilepsy center as part of a larger study. These patients were confirmed to have drug‐resistant epilepsy by an epileptologist at the Ambulatory Epilepsy Clinic. Patients were categorized into cannabis users (CAN group) (n = 25) and Non‐cannabis users (Non‐CAN group) (n = 21). Data was collected on RedCap® for epilepsy and cannabis use details. These were analyzed for an association using a binary multivariable logistic regression model between QOLIE‐31 ‘T scores’ and age, sex, epilepsy duration, age at initiation of use, duration of cannabis use and psychiatric related comorbidity for all patients. Additionally, different ‘T subscores’ of the questionnaire were compared between the CAN group and Non‐CAN group.ResultsA statistically significant difference between the CAN group and Non‐CAN group for the T subscore ‘energy and fatigue’ (p = .004) was found, with the CAN group scoring higher. However, for the ‘overall T score’ between the two groups there was no statically significant difference (p = .11). Additionally, a significant negative correlation between ‘overall T score’ and cannabis use disorder (p = .032) was found.SignificanceThis study provides new data on association of quality of life in epilepsy with cannabis use and can serve as a foundation for larger future studies to better assess this association.