ACR Meeting Abstracts

ACR Meeting Abstracts

Abstract Number: 1162

Exploring Cannabis Use and Perspectives Among Psoriatic Disease Patients

Jackie Tsang1, Orli Silverberg1, Rohan Machhar2, Remy Pollock3, Mitchell Sutton4, Daniel Pereira3, Dafna Gladman5 and Cheryl Rosen1, 1University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, 2Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada, 3University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada, 4Centre for Prognosis Studies in the Rheumatic Diseases, Krembil Research Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada, 5Schroeder Arthritis Institute, Krembil Research Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada

Meeting: ACR Convergence 2021

Keywords:

Session Information

Date: Monday, November 8, 2021

Session Title: Patient Outcomes, Preferences, & Attitudes Poster III: Patient Preferences (1153–1169)

Session Type: Poster Session C

Session Time: 8:30AM-10:30AM

Background/Purpose: We aimed to assess the correlation between cannabis use and psoriatic disease severity, health-related quality of life, pain, and psychosocial outcomes in psoriasis without arthritis (PsC) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients.

Methods: PsC and PsA patients enrolled in the International Psoriasis and Arthritis Research Team (IPART) program were surveyed on cannabis use and were asked to provide a serum and urine sample. Demographic and clinical variables were compared between users and non-users using Student’s t-test or Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables, and chi-square or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables.

Results: Of 151 respondents, 30.5% reported current cannabis use within the last year. Compared to non-users, cannabis users were younger (P = 0.008), had a shorter PsA duration (P = 0.024), and poorer mental health as measured by the SF-36 (P = 0.046). Other measures of health-related quality of life and pain were comparable between the groups. Cannabis users felt more hesitant inquiring about cannabis with healthcare professionals prior to its legalization (P = 0.017), but were more likely to want cannabis information from their healthcare providers than non-users (P < 0.001). Respondents’ primary perceived benefits of cannabis use were aid in sleep and arthritis pain relief. Only patients who were taking cannabis had THC detected in the urine. Serum concentrations of IL-23 were significantly elevated in cannabis non-users (P = 0.0026) (Table). There were no other significant differences in concentrations of measured analytes between the groups.

Table 5: Median (IQR) of urine THC and serum biomarker concentrations compared between cannabis users (n=34) and non-users (n=65)
Variable Users (n=34) Non-Users (n=65) P-value
Urine THC (ng/ml)§ 19.7 (147.9) 0 (0) < 0.001
INF-gamma (pg/ml)§ 13.9 (72.8) 46.0 (155.4) 0.26
IL-10 (pg/ml)§ 0.5 (0) 0.5 (0.3) 0.17
IL-23 (pg/ml)§ 39.8 (52) 65.3 (408.8) 0.0026
IL-6 (pg/ml)§ 1.3 (1.7) 1.4 (1.2) 0.46
TNF-alpha (pg/ml)§ 2.2 (4.7) 2.9 (5.4) 0.26
§Median (IQR) Mann-Whitney U test

Conclusion: This study shows that 30.5% of 151 patients used cannabis within the past year and 54.3% of users reported use of cannabis for arthritis pain relief. Knowledge of the patient demographics of cannabis users can help guide clinicians in counselling patients and aid in the development educational materials to promote responsible use.

Disclosures: J. Tsang, None; O. Silverberg, None; R. Machhar, None; R. Pollock, None; M. Sutton, None; D. Pereira, None; D. Gladman, AbbVie, 2, 5, Amgen, 2, 5, Eli Lilly, 2, 5, Galapagos, 2, 5, Gilead, 2, 5, Janssen, 2, 5, Novartis, 2, 5, Pfizer, 2, 5, UCB, 2, 5, Celgene, 2, 5, Bristol Myers Squibb, 2, 5; C. Rosen, None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Tsang J, Silverberg O, Machhar R, Pollock R, Sutton M, Pereira D, Gladman D, Rosen C. Exploring Cannabis Use and Perspectives Among Psoriatic Disease Patients [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2021; 73 (suppl 9). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/exploring-cannabis-use-and-perspectives-among-psoriatic-disease-patients/. Accessed January 27, 2023.

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