Perception of cannabidiol efficacy among people with refractory epilepsy cared for by a Paraguay association: a cross-sectional study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21746025Keywords:
cannabidiol, refractory epilepsy, medicinal cannabis, Paraguay, surveys, questionnairesAbstract
Introduction: Drug-resistant epilepsy remains a relevant clinical problem, and cannabidiol (CBD) has attracted interest as a complementary treatment in several epileptic syndromes and in real-world use settings. In everyday practice, it is also important to understand how patients perceive benefit, access, and impact on quality of life.
Objective: To describe the perception of cannabidiol efficacy among people with refractory epilepsy cared for by the Medicinal Cannabis Association of Paraguay (CAMEDPAR).
Materials and methods: A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted. Seventy people with refractory epilepsy linked to CAMEDPAR were included. Data were collected with an online survey of 11 closed dichotomous and polytomous questions. Data were processed in an Excel database and with SPSS to obtain absolute and relative frequencies.
Results: Fifty-seven participants (81.4%) reported having experienced effects or benefits with CBD. Reported benefits included greater alertness or connection (19.3%), improved behavior (19.3%), reduced seizures (15.8%), improved feeding (8.8%), and cognitive improvement (8.8%). Regarding the regulatory framework, 33 participants (47.1%) rated regulatory measures as very good and 28 (40.0%) as good. Forty people (57.1%) indicated they never had difficulties accessing or using CBD. Regarding quality of life, 32 participants (45.7%) reported little improvement and 25 (35.7%) much improvement. According to the instrument’s categorization, overall perception of efficacy was high in 47 participants (67.1%).
Conclusions: Most respondents perceived benefits associated with CBD use, especially related to seizure reduction and some behavioral or cognitive aspects. However, findings should be interpreted as perceptions from a local sample and not as demonstration of clinical efficacy.
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