The following is a summary of “Identifying patterns of pain, depression, anxiety, interpersonal trauma exposure, and nonmedical prescription opioid use: Latent class analysis among patients with chronic pain,” published in the December 2023 issue of Pain by Short et al.
Chronic pain can increase the risk of people misusing prescription opioids, but pinpointing this risk is difficult because factors like depression and trauma often appear together.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to categorize chronic pain patients based on risk for misusing prescription opioids, mental health issues, and pain characteristics.
They gathered self-reported and medical record information from 211 patients (average age = 48, 69.0% female, 69.0% Caucasian) attending a pain management facility.
The results showed three classes identified: low likelihood of clinically significant depression, anxiety, pain, and nonmedical prescription opioid use (44.7%), high probability of clinically significant depression, anxiety, pain, pain catastrophizing, trauma, and nonmedical prescription opioid use (41.3%), and high likelihood of severe pain and nonmedical prescription opioid use (14.0%).
Investigators concluded distinct chronic pain patient groups with a high risk for misusing opioids, driven by either mental health struggles and trauma or by severe and disruptive pain.
Source: academic.oup.com/painmedicine/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/pm/pnad160/7471886
