Research Article
Longitudinal Relationship between the Introduction of Medicinal Cannabis and Polypharmacy: An Australian Real-World Evidence Study
Table 3
Baseline characteristics (n = 535).
| | Baseline characteristics | n (%) |
| | Female | 279 (52) | | Age (mean (SD)) | 57.2 (17.8) | | Age range (years) | 9–94 | | Number of medications (mean (SD))1 | 7.06 (4.38) | | State of residence | | Western Australia | 356 (67) | | New South Wales | 155 (29) | | Victoria | 24 (4) | | Employment | | Employed status | 196 (36) | | Full-time employed | 117 | | Part-time employed | 79 | | Unemployed status | 339 (64) | | Retired | 140 | | Unable to work due to pain | 103 | | Unable to work due to a condition other than pain | 57 | | Not working by choice (e.g., student and homemaker) | 28 | | Other | 11 | | Primary indication | | Chronic noncancer pain | Epilepsy | | Cancer pain | 45 (8) | | Other indications | 18 (3) | | Insomnia | 14 (3) | | Parkinson’s disease | 11 (2) | | Post-traumatic stress disorder | 8 | | Neurological spasticity | 8 | | Chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting | 8 | | Migraine (headache) | 7 | | Alzheimer’s or dementia | 4 | | Inflammatory bowel disease | 1 | | Epilepsy | 1 |
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Notes. 1Most common baseline medication classes used were opioids (60.6%), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (54.4%), antidepressants (36.8%), benzodiazepines (34.6%), and proton pump inhibitors (32.7%).
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