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Opioid Use and Social Disadvantage in Patients with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

Brian Brady, BA (Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri); Ethan Bradley, BS; Ryan Calfee, MD; Lisa Klesges, PhD; Graham Colditz, MD, PhD; Abby L. Cheng, MD; Heidi Prather, DO

Meeting: AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2020

Categories: Pain and Spine Medicine (2020)

Session Information

Session Title: Virtual Poster Hall

Session Time: None. Available on demand.

Disclosures: Brian Brady, BA:

Objective: Historically, non-white patients were prescribed less opioid medication than white patients. However, because of persistent differential access to non-opioid pain treatments, this direction of disparity in opioid prescribing may have reversed. This study compared social disadvantage and self-reported health in patients with chronic pain who are currently managed with versus without chronic opioid treatment.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of a retrospective cohort defined from medical record data between 2000 and 2019. Setting : Single tertiary academic medical center. Participants : Adult patients followed for chronic musculoskeletal pain, sub-grouped by chronic adherent opioid usage versus no opioid usage.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: The primary comparison was the prevalence difference of social disadvantage in patients using versus not using opioids, measured by living in a zip code within the worst national quartile of the Area Deprivation Index. Secondary outcomes included differences in self-reported health by opioid use (measured by Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)), after controlling for age, sex, race, and social disadvantage.

Results: In 1,173 patients (356 chronic opioid users), compared to non-opioid patients, chronic opioid patients were more likely to live in a zip code within the most socially disadvantaged national quartile (34.9% [95%CI 29.9% to 39.9%] vs 24.9% [21.9% to 28.0%], p < .001). Opioid use was independently associated with clinically relevant worse PROMIS Depression (3.8 points [2.4 to 5.1]), Anxiety (3.0 [1.4to 4.5]), and Pain Interference (2.6 [1.7 to 3.5]) scores. Conclusions: Patients on chronic opioids were more likely to live in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods, and chronic opioid use was independently associated with worse behavioral health. Improving access to multidisciplinary, non-opioid treatments for chronic pain may be a key approach to successfully overcoming the opioid crisis.

Level of Evidence: Level III

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Brady B, Bradley E, Calfee R, Klesges L, Colditz G, Cheng AL, Prather H. Opioid Use and Social Disadvantage in Patients with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain [abstract]. PM R. 2020; 12(S1)(suppl 1). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/opioid-use-and-social-disadvantage-in-patients-with-chronic-musculoskeletal-pain/. Accessed May 9, 2025.
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