Dysmenorrhoea: can medicinal cannabis bring new hope for a collective group of women suffering in pain, globally?
Author(s)
Seifalian, Amelia
Kenyon, Julian
Khullar, Vik
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Dysmenorrhoea effects up to 90% of women of reproductive age, with medical management options including over-the-counter analgesia or hormonal contraception. There has been a recent surge in medicinal cannabis research and its analgesic properties. This paper aims to critically investigate the current research of medicinal cannabis for pain relief and to discuss its potential application to treat dysmenorrhoea. Relevant keywords, including medicinal cannabis, pain, cannabinoids, tetrahydrocannabinol, dysmenorrhoea, and clinical trial, have been searched in the PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library (Wiley) databases and a clinical trial website (clinicaltrials.gov). To identify the relevant studies for this paper, 84 papers were reviewed and 20 were discarded as irrelevant. This review critically evaluated cannabis-based medicines and their mechanism and properties in relation to pain relief. It also tabulated all clinical trials carried out investigating medicinal cannabis for pain relief and highlighted the side effects. In addition, the safety and toxicology of medicinal cannabis and barriers to use are highlighted. Two-thirds of the clinical trials summarised confirmed positive analgesic outcomes, with major side effects reported as nausea, drowsiness, and dry mouth. In conclusion, medicinal cannabis has promising applications in the management of dysmenorrhoea. The global medical cannabis market size was valued at USD 11.0 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.06% from 2022 to 2030. This will encourage academic as well as the pharmaceutical and medical device industries to study the application of medical cannabis in unmet clinical disorders.
Date Issued
2022-12
Date Acceptance
2022-12-16
Citation
International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2022, 23 (24)
ISSN
1422-0067
Publisher
MDPI AG
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volume
23
Issue
24
Copyright Statement
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000900898900001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=a2bf6146997ec60c407a63945d4e92bb
Subjects
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
cancer
CANCER-PATIENTS
cannabinoids
CENTRAL NEUROPATHIC PAIN
Chemistry
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
DOUBLE-BLIND
dysmenorrhoea
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
MANAGEMENT
medical cannabis
MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS
OPEN-LABEL
pain
PARACETAMOL
PARALLEL-GROUP
Physical Sciences
Science & Technology
SYMPTOMS
tetrahydrocannabinol
THC/CBD OROMUCOSAL SPRAY
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
16201
Date Publish Online
2022-12-19