Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jan 30;17(3):872.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17030872.

Sex- and Gender-Based Analysis in Cannabis Treatment Outcomes: A Systematic Review

Andreea C Brabete  1 , Lorraine Greaves  1   2 , Natalie Hemsing  1 , Julie Stinson  1
Affiliations

Sex- and Gender-Based Analysis in Cannabis Treatment Outcomes: A Systematic Review

Andreea C Brabete et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

There is evidence that sex- and gender-related factors are involved in cannabis patterns of use, health effects and biological mechanisms. Women and men report different cannabis use disorder (CUD) symptoms, with women reporting worse withdrawal symptoms than men. The objective of this systematic review was to examine the effectiveness of cannabis pharmacological interventions for women and men and the uptake of sex- and gender-based analysis in the included studies. Two reviewers performed the full-paper screening, and data was extracted by one researcher. The search yielded 6098 unique records-of which, 68 were full-paper screened. Four articles met the eligibility criteria for inclusion. From the randomized clinical studies of pharmacological interventions, few studies report sex-disaggregated outcomes for women and men. Despite emergent evidence showing the influence of sex and gender factors in cannabis research, sex-disaggregated outcomes in pharmacological interventions is lacking. Sex- and gender-based analysis is incipient in the included articles. Future research should explore more comprehensive inclusion of sex- and gender-related aspects in pharmacological treatments for CUD.

Keywords: SGBA; cannabis use disorder; randomized controlled trial.; sex- and gender-based analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) diagram of study selection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Tannenbaum C., Greaves L., Graham I.D. Why sex and gender matter in implementation research. Med. Res. Methodol. 2016;16:145. doi: 10.1186/s12874-016-0247-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Johnson J., Sharman Z., Vissandjée B., Stewart E.D. Does a Change in Health Research Funding Policy Related to the Integration of Sex and Gender Have an Impact? PloS ONE. 2014;9:e99900. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099900. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Institute of Gender and Health . Science is Better with Sex and Gender, Strategic Plan. Canadian Institutes of Health Research; Ottawa, ON, Canada: 2019.
    1. Johnson J.L., Greaves L., Repta R. Better Science with Sex and Gender: A Primer for Health Research. Women’s Health Research Network; Vancouver, BC, Canada: 2007.
    1. Krieger N. Genders, sexes, and health: What are the connections—And why does it matter? Int. J. Epidemiol. 2003;32:652–657. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyg156. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Grants and funding