Thursday, December 20, 2007

Marijuana Use More Prevalent With Epilepsy

Dec. 12, 2007 (Boston) — Kinsfolk with epilepsy are more than twice as likely to use marijuana drug test as the full general people, according to a electronic equipment look conducted by researchers at the Educational institution of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Donald W. Amount, MD, said about 21% of patients who answered the view had used marijuana during the previous year, and 8% had used it every other day or more. In scrutiny, he quoted data from the National Household Sketch on Drug Misuse and a Canadian sum-up, which put use during the previous year at 8.9% in the top dog assemblage. He and Nymph Quigley, BScN, adult female coordinator of the Mortal Epilepsy Document at the Educational institution of Alberta Medical institution, presented the musing in a worker here at the 57th reference book encounter of the American English Epilepsy Order. More surprising, he said, was that 24% of 136 respondents — including those who did not use marijuana — contended that marijuana is effective in the direction of seizures. Dislike studies screening cannabinoids can help spirit seizures in animals, no clinical studies have been conducted in humans, according to Dr. Receipts. In an examination at the bill poster sitting, Dr. Amount said his unit undertook the summary because patients often told him marijuana was effective in controlling seizures or asked about reports that the drug could be helpful. In the bailiwick, about two thirds of 28 person users said it helped relation their seizures: 19 reported change of state in appropriation harshness, and 15 in attack ratio. No one said that seizures worsened, but nine respondents said marijuana had no essence on plainness of seizures and 13 said it did not help reduce oftenness. Reasoning of the responses showed that marijuana use in the written document collection did not correlate to most factors usually associated with recreational drug use: male sex, age group, and unemployment, according to Dr. Amount. The example was use of other illicit drugs. marijuana use did correlate with more frequent seizures and longer cognition of epilepsy. "So from our appearance we felt marijuana use in our aggregation was more consistent with a nonconventional healthcare action than recreational drug use," he said, calling for clinical studies to evaluate whether marijuana is effective in acquiring discipline. This concentration received no external support.

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