Prevalence of cannabis use for pain management in Quebec: A post-legalization estimate among generations living with chronic pain

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the sample.

Characteristics (n = 1344)	n (%)^a
Age (years), mean ± standard deviation Range	49.72 ± 13.17 18–88
Generation/age group
Generation Z (≤26 years)	52 (3.92)
Children of baby boomers (27–47 years)	535 (40.38)
Baby busters (48–53 years)	199 (15.02)
Baby boomers (54–73 years)	505 (38.11)
Parents of baby boomers (≥74 years)	34 (2.57)
Self-identified gender Woman Man Nonbinary	1122 (83.54) 217 (16.16) 4 (0.29)
Employed Yes No	491 (36.70) 847 (63.30)
Postsecondary education Yes No	1064 (79.70) 271 (20.30)
Pain duration
<1 year	42 (3.13)
1–4 years	303 (22.60)
5–9 years	302 (22.52)
≥10 years	694 (51.75)
Pain intensity (0–10 NRS) on average in the past 7 days
Mild (1–4)	429 (32.30)
Moderate (5–7)	707 (53.24)
Severe (8–10)	192 (14.46)
Current use of prescribed pain medications Yes No	1073 (79.90) 270 (20.10)
Current use of over-the-counter pain medications Yes No	905 (67.39) 438 (32.61)
Most common locations of pain prevalence^b
Back	841 (62.57)
Neck	602 (44.79)
Shoulder	593 (44.12)
Hips	507 (37.72)
Legs	519 (38.62)
Multisite pain (two or more sites) Yes No	1192 (88.69) 152 (11.31)
Generalized pain Yes No	471 (35.04) 873 (64.96)

^aUnless stated otherwise.

^bCategories are not mutually exclusive.

NRS = numeric rating scale.

Figure 1. Prevalence of cannabis use according to reasons for use. Error bars represent 95% CIs. Non-mutually exclusive groups, because participants could check more than one reason.

Figure 2. Prevalence of cannabis use per generations/age groups. Error bars represent 95% CIs.

Figure 3. Prevalence of cannabis use for pain management according to gender identity. Error bars represent 95% CIs.

Table 2. Results from the multivariate analysis with adjusted ORs and their 95% CIs.

	OR	95% CI
Sociodemographic profile
Generation/age group (versus Generation Z)
Children of baby boomers (27–47 years)	0.622	0.307	1.260
Baby busters (48–53 years)	0.405	0.185	0.886
Baby boomers (54–73 years)	0.271	0.126	0.581
Parents of baby boomers (≥74 years)	0.086	0.010	0.780
Self-identified gender (women versus other)^a	0.812	0.533	1.236
Gender role according to the BSRI (versus undifferentiated)
Feminine	1.240	0.810	1.898
Masculine	1.217	0.788	1.882
Androgynous	1.090	0.728	1.635
Country of birth (Canada versus other)	1.175	0.512	2.695
Aboriginal (yes versus no)	1.208	0.374	3.903
Employed full- or part-time (yes versus no)	0.821	0.580	1.162
Disabled (yes versus no)	0.889	0.579	1.365
Postsecondary education (yes versus no)	1.406	0.938	2.107
Residing in a remote region (versus nonremote regions)^b	0.636	0.436	0.928
Chronic pain characteristics and interference
Generalized pain (yes versus no)	1.604	1.148	2.242
Multisite pain (yes versus no)	1.251	0.714	2.194
Frequency (continuous versus intermittent)	1.029	0.610	1.735
Duration (years)	1.003	0.989	1.017
Pain intensity on average in the past 7 days (0–10 NRS)	0.926	0.838	1.025
Tendency to pain catastrophizing (yes versus no)	1.189	0.836	1.693
Neuropathic component according to the DN4 (yes versus no)	1.297	0.940	1.787
Interference (BPI score)	1.081	0.967	1.209
Pain treatment
Using prescribed pain medications (yes versus no)	1.783	1.127	2.820
Using over-the-counter pain medications (yes versus no)	0.639	0.469	0.870
Using nonpharmacological treatments for pain management (yes versus no)	1.628	1.053	2.517
Access to a trusted health care professional for pain management (yes versus no)	1.256	0.854	1.847
Health profile and lifestyle
Psychological distress (0–12 PHQ-4 score; versus none/scores 0–2)
Mild/scores 3–5	1.208	0.789	1.850
Moderate/scores 6–8	1.036	0.638	1.683
Severe/scores 9–12	0.849	0.488	1.476
Perceived general health (0–100 SF-12 score)	0.991	0.977	1.005
Number of medications currently used (including prescribed, over-the-counter, pain-related, and non-pain-related)	0.998	0.960	1.037
Physical functioning (0–100 SF-12 score)	1.000	0.981	1.019
Have consumed alcohol or used drugs more than intended in the past year (versus never)
Rarely	2.047	1.434	2.923
Sometimes	3.047	1.967	4.719
Often	3.017	1.595	5.706
Cigarette smoking (versus never smoked)
Current smoker	3.601	2.315	5.601
Former smoker	1.870	1.339	2.611

Proportion of missing data across presented variable ranges between 0.07% and 8.85%. Listwise deletion led to the inclusion of 1068 out of 1344 individuals in the final model. Bold font indicates statistical significance.

^aMen and participants who self-identified as unknown or unspecified sex were regrouped because the latter included only four individuals.

^bRemote resource regions as defined by Revenu Quebec (i.e., the provincial revenue agency): Bas-Saint-Laurent, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord, Nord-du-Québec, Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine. Nonremote regions are near a major urban center.

BPI = Brief Pain Inventory; DN4 = Douleur Neuropathique 4; NRS = numeric rating scale; PHQ-4 = 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire; SF-12 = 12-Item Short Form Survey.

Data availability statement

The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, A. Lacasse, upon reasonable request and conditional to proper ethics approval for a secondary data analysis. The data are not publicly available because participants did not provide consent to open data.