Benzodiazepine use in medical cannabis authorization adult patients from 2013 to 2021: Alberta, Canada

BMC Public Health

Table 3 Interrupted time series estimates of daily diazepam equivalence differences within baseline diazepam equivalence subgroups per patient in medically authorized cannabis users (n = 9690) vs controls (n = 9690)

Variable	Daily diazepam equivalence difference in those <=5 mg baseline Daily diazepam equivalence (n = 5443 cannabis patients and 5402 controls) ^a	Daily diazepam equivalence difference in those 5–10 mg baseline Daily diazepam equivalence (n = 842 cannabis patients and 812 controls) ^a	Daily diazepam equivalence difference in those 10–15 mg baseline Daily diazepam equivalence (n = 651 cannabis patients and 626 controls) ^a	Daily diazepam equivalence difference in those > 15 mg baseline Daily diazepam equivalence (n = 2754 cannabis patients and 2850 controls) ^a
Pre-incentive trend ^c	−0.0002 (− 0.008 to 0.007)	−0.06 (− 0.13 to − 0.001)	−0.03 (− 0.13 to 0.08)	−0.02 (− 0.12 to 0.09)
Level change after medical cannabis authorization ^d	− 0.04 (− 0.12 to 0.03)	−0.16 (− 0.74 to 0.42)	−0.65 (−1.58 to 0.29)	−0.17 (−1.17 to 0.82)
Trend change after medical cannabis authorization ^e	0.002 (−0.009 to 0.012)	0.06 (− 0.03 to 0.15)	0.08 (− 0.09 to 0.25)	0.07 (− 0.08 to 0.22)
Overall absolute effect after medical cannabis authorization ^f	−0.02 (− 0.16 to 0.11)	0.48 (− 0.48 to 1.45)	0.69 (− 0.78 to 2.17)	0.48 (− 1.22 to 2.19)

^aAll reported values indicate the average difference in average daily diazepam equivalence per patient in those who received a medical cannabis authorization compared to controls
^cRate of change in the outcome over time prior to medical cannabis authorization
^dImmediate change in outcome following medical cannabis authorization
^eMonth to Month change in average daily diazepam equivalence or slope after medical cannabis authorization, relative to the pre-incentive difference in trend
^fThe overall absolute effect after medical cannabis authorization is the absolute difference in the average daily diazepam equivalence over the 6 month pre- and 12 months post-medical cannabis authorization period, compared to the counterfactual difference in trends had medical cannabis authorization not occurred (i.e. pre-incentive difference in trends projected forward)

ISSN: 1471-2458