What Greek patients with advanced cancer believe about the medical use of cannabis? A pilot study

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. 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%. 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. 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.