Social Media Listening Analysis of Cannabis Use in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Author(s)
Ana L. Schmidt, PhD1, Juergen Gottowik, PhD1, Raul Rodriguez-Esteban, PhD1, Luca Melli, PhD2, Vishakha Sharma, PhD3.
1pRED Data & Analytics, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Basel, Switzerland, 2pRED Clinical Operations, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Basel, Switzerland, 3Roche Diagnostics, Santa Clara, CA, USA.
1pRED Data & Analytics, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Basel, Switzerland, 2pRED Clinical Operations, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Basel, Switzerland, 3Roche Diagnostics, Santa Clara, CA, USA.
OBJECTIVES: This study aims to understand how patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) use cannabis to handle their condition, focusing on the reported benefits and drawbacks.
METHODS: We performed a social media listening (SML) analysis , collecting 1.59M posts from public, disease-specific forums. We used regular expressions to identify 27k posts discussing cannabis use for IBD, of which 2.9k posts discussed the medical uses, 1.3k discussed the positive aspects and 1.7k discussed the negative aspects. We then performed concept saturation on each set by manually labeling the concepts as they emerged in each of the subsets. Saturation was achieved after ~500 posts.
RESULTS: Our analysis indicates that IBD patients frequently use cannabis to manage their physical symptoms (mainly pain, nausea, appetite loss) as well as mental symptoms (anxiety, stress, sleep issues). Patients report using cannabis regularly, particularly in the evenings or before going to bed, with on-demand use associated with managing flare-ups for immediate symptom relief. The main challenges associated with the cannabis use for IBD include inconsistent access to products of reliable quality, , the difficulty of determining the effective dosages or strains without medical guidance, legal barriers, social stigma, work-related limitations, and potential side effects, such as anxiety, paranoia and cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. Nevertheless, the reported effectiveness of cannabis in managing IBD symptoms and improving the patients' quality of life far outweigh the reported drawbacks.
CONCLUSIONS: SML provides valuable insights into cannabis use among IBD patients, highlighting its predominant medical use to enhance their overall well-being. While cannabis use presents certain drawbacks compared to standard IBD treatments, the perceived effectiveness by the patients should be taken into account. This study highlights the need for further research into cannabis use for IBD patients emphasizing the importance of understanding patient experiences and facilitating informed patient-provider discussions.
METHODS: We performed a social media listening (SML) analysis , collecting 1.59M posts from public, disease-specific forums. We used regular expressions to identify 27k posts discussing cannabis use for IBD, of which 2.9k posts discussed the medical uses, 1.3k discussed the positive aspects and 1.7k discussed the negative aspects. We then performed concept saturation on each set by manually labeling the concepts as they emerged in each of the subsets. Saturation was achieved after ~500 posts.
RESULTS: Our analysis indicates that IBD patients frequently use cannabis to manage their physical symptoms (mainly pain, nausea, appetite loss) as well as mental symptoms (anxiety, stress, sleep issues). Patients report using cannabis regularly, particularly in the evenings or before going to bed, with on-demand use associated with managing flare-ups for immediate symptom relief. The main challenges associated with the cannabis use for IBD include inconsistent access to products of reliable quality, , the difficulty of determining the effective dosages or strains without medical guidance, legal barriers, social stigma, work-related limitations, and potential side effects, such as anxiety, paranoia and cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. Nevertheless, the reported effectiveness of cannabis in managing IBD symptoms and improving the patients' quality of life far outweigh the reported drawbacks.
CONCLUSIONS: SML provides valuable insights into cannabis use among IBD patients, highlighting its predominant medical use to enhance their overall well-being. While cannabis use presents certain drawbacks compared to standard IBD treatments, the perceived effectiveness by the patients should be taken into account. This study highlights the need for further research into cannabis use for IBD patients emphasizing the importance of understanding patient experiences and facilitating informed patient-provider discussions.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2025-11, ISPOR Europe 2025, Glasgow, Scotland
Value in Health, Volume 28, Issue S2
Code
PCR218
Topic
Patient-Centered Research
Topic Subcategory
Patient-reported Outcomes & Quality of Life Outcomes
Disease
Gastrointestinal Disorders