Psychiatric comorbidities before and after cannabidiol treatment in adult patients with drug resistant focal epilepsy

Cannabidiol oil (CBD) has been approved as an antiseizure medication for the treatment of drug -resistant epilepsy in pediatric patients in 2018 for some special types of epilepsy. Since this time its use was extended to other forms of epilepsy. However, to date, there are few publications on the use of CBD in adult patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy and psychiatric comorbidities. We conducted a prospective, observational, open cohort study, with a before-after design, in adult patients, we assessed the effectiveness, dosage, and tolerance of adjunctive CBD treatment. Our study concluded that CBD was effective and safe.Our study in line with others examining CBD use in adult patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, omits consideration of psychiatric aspects. The aim of this study was to evaluate, in the same patient population that was part of a previous observational study, depression, quality of life, anxious symptoms and daytime sleepiness before and after CBD treatment. RESULTS: Forty-four patients were enrolled in the study. Prior to CBD treatment, 50 % of participants exhibited symptoms of depression. Following CBD treatment, 95.4 % of these individuals demonstrated a marked improvement (p = 0.001). Among this cohort, 71.5 % of patients reported minimal or no depressive symptoms post-treatment. Moreover, 68 % of patients experienced an enhancement in their overall quality of life. Comparative analysis of BDI-II and QOLIE-10 scores before and after CBD treatment revealed a statistically significant positive correlation (p < 0.036 and < 0.001, respectively). Improvements in depressive symptoms were found to correspond with enhancements in quality of life. In terms of anxiety symptoms, 54.5 % of patients exhibited such symptoms prior to CBD treatment, with 71 % showing improvement post-treatment. Adjunctive CBD treatment in adult patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy was effective, safe, well tolerated and associated with significant improvement in depressive symptoms, anxiety and quality of life.