Painkiller Misuse Common Among People Battling Chronic Pain

Key Takeaways

• Nearly 1 in every 10 chronic pain patients treated with opioids will be diagnosed with problematic opioid use

• Nearly one in three will develop symptoms of opioid addiction

• Previous claims from pharmaceutical companies held that fewer than 1% of chronic pain patients became addicted when using opioids

THURSDAY, Aug. 8, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly 1 in every 10 chronic pain patients treated with prescription opioids winds up addicted to the painkillers at some point, a new review finds.

Further, nearly 1 in 3 will show symptoms of opioid addiction, researchers reported Aug. 7 in the journal Addiction .

That evidence runs counter to claims made by companies like Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue Pharma that fewer than 1% of opioid prescriptions result in problems for patients, researchers noted.

“Clinicians and policy makers need a more accurate estimate of the prevalence of problematic opioid use in pain patients so that they can gauge the true extent of the problem, change prescribing guidance if necessary, and develop and implement effective interventions to manage the problem,” said lead researcher Dr. Kyla Thomas , a professor of public health medicine at the University of Bristol in the U.K.

“Knowing the size of the problem is a necessary step to managing it,” Thomas added in a journal news release.

For the study, researchers analyzed data drawn from 148 studies on opioid prescriptions dating from 1985 to 2021.

They found that more than 9% of chronic pain patients prescribed opioids wound up diagnosed with problematic opioid use, based on studies looking at diagnostic codes.

In addition, nearly 30% of people taking opioids for chronic pain developed signs or symptoms indicating either dependence or addiction -- cravings, increasing tolerance or withdrawal, for example,

Opioid painkiller use also prompted aberrant behavior in about 22% of chronic pain patients. Examples include seeking early refills, repeated dose increases or frequently lost prescriptions.

The evidence also showed that nearly 1 in 8 chronic pain patients (12%) have characteristics that might increase their future risk of opioid dependence or addiction.

More information

Harvard Medical School has more on opioids for pain relief .

SOURCE: Society for the Study of Addiction, news release, Aug. 7, 2024

What This Means For You

Opioid painkillers pose an addiction risk for a significant minority of people with chronic pain.