Cannabis users feel more pain after surgery

Adults who use cannabis experience more pain after surgery than people who do not use cannabis. This is evident from research presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGIA® 2022 Annual Meeting. 

 “Cannabis is the most commonly used illegal drug in the United States and is increasingly used as an alternative treatment for chronic pain, but there is little data to show how it affects patient outcomes after surgery," said study lead author  Elyad Ekrami. , MD "Our study shows that adults who use cannabis have more pain after surgery, not less. As a result, they use more opioids after surgery. Ekrami is a clinical researcher in the Outcomes Research Division of the Cleveland Clinic Anesthesiology Institute.

Researchers analyzed data from 3

,521 adult patients who underwent elective surgery at the Cleveland Clinic between January 2010 and December 2020. 1681 (5%) of the participants were cannabis users. Cannabis users  used the drug in the 30 days before surgery, while  other patients  never used cannabis. Patients who used cannabis experienced 1

% more pain in the first 2

 hours after surgery compared to  patients who never used cannabis. In addition, patients who used cannabis consumed 7% more opioids after surgery, which the authors say was not statistically significant but probably clinically important. 

 "The association between cannabis use, pain points and opioid use has been previously reported  in smaller studies, but with mixed results," added Dr. Ekrami. "Our study has a much larger sample  and does not include patients diagnosed with chronic pain  or patients receiving regional anesthesia, which would  seriously contradict our results. In addition, our study groups were balanced by confounding factors such as age, gender, tobacco and other. illegal drug use , and depression and psychological disorders. 

 Dr. Ekrami noted that further research is needed to determine the effects of cannabis on surgical outcomes. "Physicians should consider that patients using cannabis may have more pain and require slightly higher doses. opioids after surgery, highlighting the need to continue investigating a multimodal approach to postoperative pain management," he said.