Cannabidiol Safe, May Lower Anxiety in Advanced Breast Cancer
FRIDAY, Dec. 20, 2024 -- For patients with advanced breast cancer and baseline clinical anxiety, cannabidiol (CBD) is safe and may reduce anxiety levels two to four hours after ingestion, according to a study published online Dec. 16 in JAMA Network Open.
Manan M. Nayak, Ph.D., from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and colleagues randomly assigned 50 patients with advanced breast cancer and baseline clinical anxiety to receive oral CBD 400 mg (25 patients) or placebo (25 patients) within 48 hours before a scan assessing tumor burden.
The researchers found that the primary end point of change scores on the afraid subscale of the Visual Analog Mood Scale (VAMS) before and two to four hours after ingestion was numerically greater in the CBD arm, but did not differ significantly between the arms. Significantly lower VAMS afraid T-scores were seen for participants receiving CBD versus placebo when comparing anxiety levels two to four hours after study drug ingestion. There were no reports of grade 3 or 4 toxic effects.
"This preliminary randomized clinical trial establishes CBD as a treatment for anxiety for patients with breast cancer and has laid groundwork for a larger, more definitive trial to test the efficacy of oral CBD, 400 mg, in decreasing anxiety in this patient population," the authors write.
One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
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