ASN's Mission

To create a world without kidney diseases, the ASN Alliance for Kidney Health elevates care by educating and informing, driving breakthroughs and innovation, and advocating for policies that create transformative changes in kidney medicine throughout the world.

learn more

Contact ASN

1401 H St, NW, Ste 900, Washington, DC 20005

email@asn-online.org

202-640-4660

The Latest on X

Kidney Week

Please note that you are viewing an archived section from 2022 and some content may be unavailable. To unlock all content for 2022, please visit the archives.

Abstract: SA-PO327

Patient Views Regarding Cannabis Use in CKD and Kidney Failure: A Survey Study

Session Information

Category: Dialysis

  • 701 Dialysis: Hemodialysis and Frequent Dialysis

Authors

  • Collister, David Thomas, University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
  • Whitlock, Reid, University of Manitoba Max Rady College of Medicine, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
  • Tennankore, Karthik K., Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • Tangri, Navdeep, University of Manitoba Max Rady College of Medicine, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
  • Goupil, Remi, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • Nadeau-Fredette, Annie-Claire, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • Davison, Sara N., University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
  • Wald, Ron, University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Walsh, Michael, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Background

Cannabis is frequently used recreationally and medicinally including for symptom management in patients with kidney disease.

Methods

We elicited the views of Canadian adults with kidney disease regarding their cannabis use. Participants were asked whether they would try cannabis for anxiety, depression, restless legs, itchiness, fatigue, chronic pain, decreased appetite, nausea/vomiting, sleep, cramps and other symptoms. The degree to which respondents considered cannabis for each symptom was assessed with a modified Likert scale ranging from 1-5 (anchored at 1 “definitely would not” and 5 being “definitely would”). Multilevel multivariable linear regression was used to identify respondent characteristics associated with considering cannabis for symptom control.

Results

Of 320 respondents, 290 (90.6%) were from in-person recruitment (27.3% response rate) and 30 (9.4%) responses were from online recruitment. 160/320 respondents (50.2%) had previously used cannabis including smoking (140, 87.5%), oils (69, 43.1%) and edibles (92, 57.5%). The most common reasons for previous cannabis use were recreation (84/160, 52.5%), pain alleviation (63/160, 39.4%) and sleep enhancement (56/160, 35.0%). Only 33.8% of previous cannabis users thought their physicians were aware of their cannabis use. >50% of respondents probably would or definitely would try cannabis for symptom control for all 10 symptoms. Characteristics independently associated with interest in trying cannabis for symptom control included symptom type (pain, sleep, restless legs), online respondent (ß 0.7, 95% CI 0.1-1.4) and previous cannabis use (ß 1.2, 95% CI 0.9, 1.5).

Conclusion

Many patients with kidney disease use cannabis and there is interest in trying cannabis for symptom control.