2023-08-28 11:00:00
Each year, 1,800 pediatric cancers are diagnosed in France in children under 15, according to theCurie Institute. “Although treatments for childhood cancer have improved considerably, (…) many children still suffer from symptoms such as pain, anxiety and weight loss due to cancer and its treatment”, explain researchers from the University of Manitoba in Canada. For several years, the parents of some of these patients have turned to therapeutic cannabis to relieve their children’s symptoms. These Canadian scientists decided to verify the effects of medical cannabis for this type of use. In the specialist journal Cancerthey present the results of their work.
Therapeutic cannabis: products often used once morest vomiting and nausea
The researchers identified 19 studies involving a total of 1,927 participants with cancer. “The products studied included medical-grade cannabinoids, synthetic cannabinoids and unspecified cannabis plant extracts, they point out. The products were most often used to manage chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.”
In these different trials, patients who used cannabinoids were more likely to experience drowsiness, dizziness, and dry mouth, and they were more likely to feel high, observe the authors. “In addition, participants who received cannabinoids were almost four times more likely to drop out of the study due to adverse events, compared to the control group who received a placebo,” they add. On the other hand, no serious adverse events related to cannabis were reported in these different studies.
Pediatric cancer: a lack of evidence of the benefit of therapeutic cannabis
Beyond the side effects, the researchers wanted to understand the potential benefits of therapeutic cannabis in children with cancer. But they first found that there was a lack of specificity: “most studies did not adequately describe the types, dosages, frequencies and routes of administration of cannabis products”, they indicate. The conclusions of the various studies were rather mixed with regard to the positive effects of medical cannabis. “It was difficult to measure the benefits across studies, given the diversity of outcomes and study designs; however, in interventional studies with active control groups, cannabinoids were more effective in management of nausea and vomiting, says Dr. Lauren Kelly, lead author of this research. Data is lacking on the effects of cannabinoids on pain, mood, sleep and health-related quality of life.” According to her, in view of the very variable results according to the children and the studies, it is necessary to carry out “more rigorous” studies concerning the effects of cannabinoids on the symptoms of children with cancer.
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