Risk for prescription opioid misuse among patients with a history of substance use disorder

History of substance use disorder (SUD) is associated with risk for prescription opioid misuse in chronic pain patients; however, little data are available regarding risk for prescription opioid misuse within the subgroup of patients with SUD histories.

Participants with chronic pain, histories of SUD, and current opioid prescriptions were recruited from a single VA Medical Center. Participants (n=80) completed measures of risk for prescription opioid misuse, pain severity, pain-related interference, pain catastrophizing, attitudes about managing pain, emotional functioning, and substance abuse.

Participants were divided into three groups based on risk for prescription opioid misuse, as assessed by the Pain Medication Questionnaire (PMQ). Participants in the High-PMQ group reported more pain severity, interference, catastrophizing, depressive symptoms, and lowest self-efficacy for managing pain, relative to the Low-PMQ group; the High-PMQ group and Moderate-PMQ group differed on measures of pain severity, catastrophizing, and psychiatric symptoms (all p-values <0.05). The High-PMQ group had the highest rates of current SUD (32% versus 20% and 0, p=0.009). A regression analysis evaluated factors associated with PMQ scores: pain catastrophizing was the only variable significantly associated with risk for prescription opioid misuse.

Among patients with SUD histories, those with higher risk for prescription opioid misuse reported more pain and impairment, symptoms of depression, and were more likely to have current SUD, relative to patients with lower risk for prescription opioid misuse. In adjusted analyses, pain catastrophizing was significantly associated with risk for prescription opioid misuse, but current SUD status was not a significant predictor.