Identification of Opioid Medications Among Persons With Opioid Use Disorder and Chronic Pain

Persons with both opioid use disorder (OUD) and chronic pain face mental health challenges, poor substance use prognosis, and compromised quality of life. One way to improve outcomes in this vulnerable patient population is to enhance health literacy, particularly literacy regarding opioid medications. A fundamental metric of such literacy is whether persons with OUD can correctly identify medications, including those prescribed for OUD, as opioids. This question has yet to be researched extensively.

Participants were 163 adults with OUD and chronic pain receiving buprenorphine treatment who provided information about demographics and substance use history and classified 17 select medications and psychoactive substances as opioids or non-opioids.

Nearly all study participants correctly identified most assessed medications and other psychoactive substances as (non-)opioids but were less able to identify medications for OUD. Only two thirds of the sample correctly identified buprenorphine, a medication they were currently taking, as an opioid. In general, greater opioid identification was associated with greater use of substances (including opioids) and a history of drug overdose.

These findings underscore the need to enhance opioid medication literacy, especially in persons with less opioid use experience, in order to prevent some of its more deadly consequences.