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Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients certified for medical cannabis

From: Available but inaccessible: patient experiences during the first 2 years of a primary care-based medical cannabis program at an academic medical center

 

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

  1. Statistically significant p-values are in bold
  2. *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)
  3. MSK: Musculoskeletal; PTSD: Post-traumatic stress disorder