Abstract CN72
Background
Cancer patients experience multiple symptoms throughout their illness trajectory. An increasing number of cancer patients is using cannabis (C) to treat symptoms. Aim: explore the perceptions of patients with advanced cancer towards the medical use of C.
Methods
A randomized cross-sectional pilot study was conducted in an oncology hospital of Athens from June to October 2020. The sample consisted of 35 adult patients (RR 47.95%) with advanced cancer, urgently admitted to the hospital and consented to participate. Patients in terminal care/ insufficient level of communication were excluded. Eligible was every third patient urgently admitted. A Greek translation of the Alberta Cannabis Survey to investigate patients’ perceptions of C drug use, and the Greek version of the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale Short Form (MSAS-SF) was used. The minimum level of statistical significance was set up to 95%.
Results
Most of the participants were ≥60 years old (60%) and the most common diagnosis was breast (14.3%), lung (14.3%) and colon cancer (14.3%). The main reason of admission was supportive care (60.0%). The mean number of symptoms by MSAS-SF was 10.46 (±6.53), the Total Symptom Distress: 2,50 (±0,56), Physical Symptom Subscale: 2,64 (±0,60), Psychological Symptom Subscale (PHYCH): 2.34 (±0.67) and Global Distress Index score: 2.61 (±0.62). Only 8.6% of patients had used C previously, nobody for symptom management (SM) and just 6.3% had considered of using it. Although 8.6% would feel comfortable to talk about C with physician, 20.0% would agree to use it for SM. Moreover 71.4% disagreed with the legalization of C for recreational use, but all the patients that had used it before, agreed that it should be legalized for recreational use (100% vs 3.1%, p=0.001). Most of MSAS-SF scores were not associated with the perceptions about C. The patients that agreed that C is useful in SM had a higher mean score for PHYCH (2.8 vs 2.5, p=0.039) than those disagreed/ unsure.
Conclusions
Participants had negative attitudes towards medical C and felt uncomfortable to discuss about it. Only a few patients had used C in their lifetime, while no one had used it for SM. More research is needed to explore Greek advanced cancer patients’ perceptions about the medical C.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.