Pain profiles and their correlates among patients receiving medication for opioid use disorder: An exploratory study

Few evidence-based treatments exist for addressing pain among patients receiving medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD). To inform novel interventions, this exploratory study investigated pain profiles and their associations with multi-level individual, family, neighborhood, and social and community correlates among patients receiving MOUD.

Using baseline data from the NIH HEAL-funded longitudinal Collaboration Linking Opioid Use Disorder and Sleep ("CLOUDS") study to examine sleep and circadian mechanisms that contribute to nonmedical opioid use and MOUD retention, we investigated pain profiles using k-means cluster analysis, and compared individual, family, neighborhood, and social and community correlates using generalized linear models.

The sample included 211 participants receiving MOUD (mean age 41.4 years; 42.2% female). Four pain profiles emerged. Profile A (28.4%): low pain, low catastrophizing, and high resilience. Profile B (28.4%): low pain, low catastrophizing, and low resilience. Profile C (23.2%): moderate pain, moderate catastrophizing, and high resilience. Profile D (20%): moderate pain, moderate catastrophizing, and low resilience. Varying individual, family, neighborhood, and social and community correlates were identified across profiles. Generally, participants in profile A had the lowest psychiatric distress and the highest physical and psychological health, whereas the converse was true for participants in profile D.

Patients receiving MOUD in profile D had a less favorable pattern of individual, family, neighborhood, social and community correlates. Further research is needed to confirm these findings as they may eventually guide tailored multi-level integrated treatments for patients receiving MOUD, depending on their pain profile.