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Pain medication use among patients with posttraumatic stress disorder
Ann C Schwartz1, Rebekah Bradley, Kristin M Penza
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA. aschwa2@emory.edu
Abstract:
The relationship of analgesic medication use with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis was investigated among a sample of 173 African Americans presenting for routine outpatient visits at an urban mental health center. Seventy-eight (43.5%) of the sample met DSM-IV PTSD criteria. Those with PTSD had significantly higher use of analgesic medication (both opiate and non-opiate), as compared with non-PTSD patients. PTSD symptoms, as measured by the Posttraumatic Symptom Scale, were significantly higher in subjects who were prescribed analgesics. The authors conclude that there may be a relationship between PTSD and use of pain medications warranting further examination of the endogenous opiate system in the pathophysiology of PTSD.
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