Risk factors for opioid addiction in chronic non-cancer pain

Abstract

Opioids are very effective pain medications, but they are not without complications. Its use in chronic cancer pain is clearly established, but not in chronic non-cancer pain. Opioid use has increased in recent years, but at the same time, it has been accompanied by an increase in side effects and related complications, including abuse, abuse and opioid addiction. If we look in the literature on the subject there is a global concern to make an adequate therapy with risk reduction, but the samples studied make it difficult to extrapolate results to the general population and even more so if we take into account factors such as psychiatric comorbidity. This leads us to consider the need to study our own population, its characteristics and see how it is being treated, to refine as much as possible on an appropriate prescription. The authors have carried out a cross-sectional study on patients with non-cancer chronic pain referred to psychiatry and the presence of opioid use disorder. We found risk factors related to the biopsychosocial characteristics of the patients and the characteristics of pain and its treatment. Knowing the risk factors, we can avoid yatrogeny, implement primary and secondary prevention and, ultimately, improve the quality of patient care.

Keywords

• Chronic non-cancer pain
• Opiod use disorder
• Personality disorder
• Stressful event
• Fibromialgic syndrome
• Affective disorder