SMILE Study Publicized
Older adults are turning to medical marijuana more than ever, especially for chronic pain. However, there’s still a big gap in understanding its real benefits and risks. That’s where the SMILE study comes in!
This 12-month project, headed by Yan Wang, will follow 440 adults aged 50+ with chronic pain to track how it affects pain, physical function, emotional well-being, cognition, and quality of life. Researchers will collect data on this diverse group of individuals, consisting of some who use medical marijuana and others who don’t.
By the end, SMILE aims to give doctors, patients, and policymakers real-world evidence on whether medical marijuana truly helps older adults in both short and long term as well as how to personalize its use for better outcomes.
Learn more about SMILE in, “Real-Time and Long-Term Effects of Medical Marijuana on Older Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study”
Find out more at the project website!
Article Highlights Link of Optimism and Pessimism on Chronic Pain
Your mindset might be doing more than just shaping your mood, it could also be affecting how your body ages and how much pain you feel!
In a new study led by Khalid Freij; Burel Goodin, alongside researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, found that optimism was linked to less depression and slower aging, which in turn related to lower pain severity. Pessimism had the opposite effect!
The article, “Serial Mediation: How Optimism Reduces and Pessimism Intensifies Chronic Low Back Pain Through Depression and Biological Aging” has been published in Biological Research for Nursing!