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Updated: Oct 7, 2025

Determining Pain Detection and Tolerance Thresholds Using an Integrated, Multi-Modal Pain Task Battery
Published on: April 14, 2016
Dose-response relationship between functional pain interference and nonmedical analgesic use: Findings from a
Pauline Voon1,2, Jane A Buxton2,3, Evan Wood1,4
1British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Background:
Despite the epidemic of nonmedical analgesic use (NMAU) in North America, there is a scarcity of research quantifying the effect of pain on NMAU.
Aims:
This study sought to investigate the relationship between NMAU and functional pain interference, defined as the perceived level of interference in performing activities of daily living due to pain, in a population-based sample of the general Canadian population.
Methods:
Data from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)-Mental Health, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey, were used to conduct bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses.
Results:
The weighted prevalences of pain and NMAU were 20.6% and 6.6%, respectively. After adjusting for age, sex, education, culture/race, and chronic mental health diagnosis, a dose-response relationship was observed between higher functional pain interference and increased odds of NMAU, ranging from 1.61 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22-2.12) to 2.98 (95% CI, 2.21-4.01) from the lowest to the highest levels of functional pain interference. Elevated odds of NMAU were also observed among younger respondents aged 20-29 years and 15-19 years, respondents with a chronic mental illness diagnosis, and males. Secondary analyses revealed that the dose-response relationship between greater function pain interference and increased odds of NMAU persisted within subgroups with and without mental illness, as well as within subgroups aged 40 to 69.
Conclusions:
These findings highlight the potential role of pain on increasing NMAU and the need for targeted strategies to reduce harms of NMAU among high-risk subgroups such as young adults.
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