Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients certified for medical cannabis
| Total (n = 562) | Purchased medical cannabis n = 253 (45%) |
Did not purchase n = 309 (55%) |
p value* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 50.6 (13.5) | 51.79 (14.4) | 49.60 (12.6) | 0.06 |
| Gender: female, n (%) | 349 (62.1) | 165 (65.2) | 184 (59.5) | 0.16 |
| Race, n (%) | < 0.01 | |||
| Black | 215 (40.6) | 94 (39.5) | 121 (41.4) | |
| White | 56 (10.6) | 35 (14.7) | 21 (7.2) | |
| Asian | 3 (0.6) | 3 (1.3) | 0 (0) | |
| Other | 256 (48.3) | 106 (44.5) | 150 (51.4) | |
| Ethnicity, n (%) | 0.55 | |||
| Hispanic | 241 (45.9) | 131 (55.5) | 153 (52.9) | |
| Non-Hispanic | 284 (54.1) | 105 (44.5) | 136 (47.1) | |
| Insurance, n (%) | < 0.01 | |||
| Medicaid | 265 (47.5) | 101 (40.1) | 164 (53.6) | |
| Medicare | 193 (34.6) | 96 (38.1) | 97 (31.7) | |
| Private | 100 (17.9) | 55 (21.8) | 45 (14.7) | |
| Qualifying condition, n (%) | ||||
| Pain (back) | 220 (39.1) | 97 (38.3) | 123 (39.8) | 0.72 |
| Pain (other MSK) | 190 (33.9) | 88 (34.9) | 102 (33) | 0.63 |
| Pain (fibromyalgia) | 30 (5.3) | 14 (5.5) | 16 (5.2) | 0.85 |
| PTSD | 17 (3) | 9 (3.6) | 8 (2.6) | 0.50 |
| Other | 105 (18.7) | 47 (18.5) | 58 (18.7) | 0.95 |
| Substance use, n (%) | ||||
| Current prescription opioid use | 230 (40.9) | 115 (45.5) | 115 (37.2) | 0.04 |
| Current unregulated cannabis use | 297 (55.4) | 111 (45.1) | 186 (64.1) | < 0.001 |
| Current tobacco use | 187 (34.1) | 60 (24.5) | 127 (41.9) | < 0.001 |
| Chronic medical conditions, n (%) | ||||
| Hypertension | 234 (41.6) | 104 (41.1) | 130 (42.1) | 0.81 |
| Asthma | 146 (26) | 72 (28.5) | 74 (23.9) | 0.22 |
| Depression | 145 (25.8) | 70 (27.7) | 75 (24.3) | 0.36 |
| HIV | 112 (19.9) | 36 (14.2) | 76 (24.6) | < 0.01 |
| Arthritis | 103 (18.3) | 54 (21.3) | 49 (15.9) | 0.09 |
| Obesity | 63 (11.2) | 47 (18.6) | 48 (15.5) | 0.33 |
| Anxiety | 89 (15.8) | 44 (17.4) | 45 (14.6) | 0.36 |
| Diabetes | 63 (11.2) | 29 (11.5) | 34 (11) | 0.86 |
| Sickle cell | 25 (4.4) | 12 (4.7) | 13 (4.2) | 0.75 |
Statistically significant p-values are in bold
*Based on statistical tests comparing between participants who purchased medical cannabis and those who did not (independent t test for age, and chi-square test for all other variables)
MSK: Musculoskeletal; PTSD: Post-traumatic stress disorder