Nurse-Reported Outcomes of Cannabidiol (CBD) Treatment in the Long-Term Care (LTC) Setting: Results From the BEhavior, COgnition, and More With Epidiolex® in the Long-Term Care Setting (BECOME-LTC) Survey
Nanette Wrobel1, Jason Shafrin2, Andrea Chung2, Suhail Thahir2, Karthik Rajasekaran3, Aisha Fowler3, Sheila Thomas3
1Tarrytown Expocare Pharmacy, 2FTI Consulting, Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy, 3Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Objective:

The BECOME-LTC survey evaluated nurses’ perspectives of changes in seizure frequency and nonseizure outcomes (communication, cognition, sleep, emotional and physical functioning) after CBD initiation in LTC residents with epilepsy.

Background:

Epilepsy is prevalent among LTC residents. Epidiolex® (plant-derived purified CBD; 100 mg/mL oral solution) is approved for treating seizures associated with Dravet syndrome, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and tuberous sclerosis complex in patients aged ≥1 year. CBD’s real-world effectiveness in LTC residents remains unexplored.

Design/Methods:

Nurses actively working in LTC, community independent living arrangement (CILA)/group homes, or intermediate care facilities in the United States completed an online, 25-minute, multiple-choice survey and ranked their impressions of changes in patient seizure and nonseizure outcomes using a symmetrical Likert scale (from worsening to improvement).

Results:

Of 102 nurses who completed the survey, most were aged ≥35 years (87%), were female (85%), cared for >5 residents with seizures (64%) and ≤3 residents receiving CBD (61%), and had >10 years of experience (68%); most (58%) worked in facilities with >50-resident capacity. CILA/group home was the most commonly reported type of resident facility (42% of nurses). Following CBD initiation, 85% of nurses reported reduction in overall seizure frequency (49% reported ≥50% reduction); 9% reported no change, and 6% reported worsening. Around 77%, 72%, 66%, and 65% of nurses reported reductions in convulsive, drop, nonconvulsive, and nondrop seizures, respectively. Across seizure types, ≤29% of nurses reported no change in seizure frequency and ≤9% reported no worsening. Across nonseizure outcomes, 75% of nurses reported improvement in emotional functioning, 61% in sleep, 60% in cognition, 42% in communication, and 40% in physical functioning; ≤57% of nurses reported no change in seizure frequency and ≤4% reported no worsening.

Conclusions:

The BECOME-LTC survey results suggest benefits of CBD treatment among LTC and group home residents with epilepsy.

10.1212/WNL.0000000000212295
Disclaimer: Abstracts were not reviewed by Neurology® and do not reflect the views of Neurology® editors or staff.