@article{8d306d871c7f4221a1627b2565123d1b,
title = "Day-to-day pain symptoms are only weakly associated with opioid craving among patients with chronic pain prescribed opioid therapy",
abstract = "Background: Over the past decade, there has been a substantial rise in the use of opioids for the treatment of chronic noncancer pain. Despite the potential benefits of opioid therapy, the rise in the use of opioids has been accompanied by escalating rates of prescription opioid misuse and addiction. There is now a growing body of evidence indicating that opioid craving (i.e., the subjective desire to consume opioids) is one of the strongest determinants of opioid misuse among patients with chronic pain prescribed opioids. Although research has elucidated some of the factors associated with opioid craving, the contribution of patients' levels of pain to opioid craving remains unclear. Objective: The main objective of this study was to examine the day-to-day association between pain and opioid craving. Methods: In this longitudinal cohort study, patients with chronic pain prescribed opioid therapy completed baseline measures and were then asked to provide daily reports of pain intensity and opioid craving for a period of 14 days. Results: Multilevel analyses indicated that day-to-day elevations in patients' levels of pain were associated with heightened opioid craving. That is, on more painful days, patients reported higher levels of craving. Within-person changes in pain intensity, however, explained less than 5% of the variance in patients' reports of craving. Conclusion: Findings from this study suggest that patients with chronic pain do not crave their opioid medications simply because they experience high levels of pain. The theoretical and clinical implications of our findings are discussed.",
keywords = "Chronic pain, Opioid craving, Opioid therapy",
author = "Martel, {Marc O.} and Finan, {Patrick H.} and McHugh, {R. Kathryn} and Mohammed Issa and Edwards, {Robert R.} and Jamison, {Robert N.} and Wasan, {Ajay D.}",
note = "Funding Information: This study was supported in part by an investigator-initiatedgrant from Endo Pharmaceuticals, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, andGrants R21 DA024298(R.N.J., PI) and K23 DA020682 (A.D.W., PI)from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the NationalInstitutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, and the Arthritis Foundation(Investigator Award; A.D.W., PI). The authors have no financialinterests in the results of this research and no conflicts of interest. All of the listed authors have read and approved the manuscript. Funding Information: This study was supported in part by an investigator-initiated grant from Endo Pharmaceuticals , Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and Grants R21 DA024298 (R.N.J., PI) and K23 DA020682 (A.D.W., PI) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, and the Arthritis Foundation (Investigator Award; A.D.W., PI). The authors have no financial interests in the results of this research and no conflicts of interest. All of the listed authors have read and approved the manuscript. Funding Information: Dr. Wasan is a consultant for Analgesic Solutions and Zogenix. Dr. Jamison has investigator-initiated grants from Pfizer and Mallinckrodt. Drs. Jamison, Wasan, Edwards, Finan, and McHugh have grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Martel receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Funding agencies were neither involved in the writing of the manuscript nor in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors have no financial interests in the results of this research, and all authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.",
year = "2016",
month = may,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.02.047",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "162",
pages = "130--136",
journal = "Drug and alcohol dependence",
issn = "0376-8716",
publisher = "Elsevier Ireland Ltd",
}