OP17 Trends in preoperative self-disclosure of cannabis use in chronic pain patients undergoing outpatient interventional procedures: an institutional retrospective study
<h3>Background and Aims</h3> In New York State, cannabis has been legalized for medical and adult recreational use, potentially increasing use among patients. Limited studies exist regarding prevalence of cannabis use in the outpatient chronic pain setting. Therefore, a retrospective institutional study was conducted on patients undergoing an interventional procedure at our high-volume outpatient pain clinic to determine prevalence of self-reported cannabis use over time. <h3>Methods</h3> Following IRB-approval, outpatient interventional procedures performed in the Special Procedures Unit at the HSS 75th Street Campus between January 1st, 2018, and December 31st, 2023, with patient-disclosed cannabis use were identified using the SlicerDicer tool in Epic (electronic health record). The search logic returned cases with cannabis use entered in the social history intake form in Epic. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize patient demographics, procedure types, and yearly trends. <h3>Results</h3> Prevalence of self-reported cannabis use in patients undergoing an outpatient interventional procedure increased between 2018 and 2023 from 3.8% to 6.1% (figure 1). Patient characteristics are summarized in table 1. The most common procedure performed was epidural steroid injections (47%, n=1153); 55.7% (n=1361) of patients were diagnosed with spondylosis, while 11.5% (n=282) suffered from CRPS. Overall, 8.4% (n=205) of patients using cannabis reported use of at least one additional illicit substance. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Yearly trends at our institution indicate that self-disclosure of cannabis use is increasing in patients undergoing outpatient interventional procedures. The increase in cannabis use disclosure could be attributed to increased use and accessibility, increased patient comfort with disclosing use, or both; however, the prevalence is markedly lower than national averages.
Authors
- Alexandra Sideris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9839-4553)
- Jashvant Poeran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7058-5102)
- Seth Waldman
- Vivian Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1100-458X)
- William Chan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3379-4804)
- Tina Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8474-7958)
- Anuj Malhotra
- Marlena Komatz
Institutions
- Hospital for Special Surgery (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- Pain Management Institute (US)
- Center for Pain and the Brain (US)
- Pain and Rehabilitation Medicine (US)
- Weill Cornell Medicine (US)
Publication Details
- Published
- 2025-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1136/rapm-2025-esra.17
- Primary Topic
- Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00