Women, Elderly At High Risks Of Opioid Addiction Due To Chronic Pains

A national survey of alcohol and substance abuse showed that chronic pain is one of the main reasons why people engage in these behaviors. 

The new study revealed that people with moderate or severe chronic pain are 41% likelier to acquire prescription opioid use disorders or become addicted to opioids, as reported by the Indian Express. 

These results were presented by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center. The study is already published in American Journal of Psychiatry. 

Even though men and younger adults remain the ones at higher risk for these disorders, women and older adults who became addicted to opioids are observably the ones who also reported pain. The findings have been generated from 34,000 adults. The survey was conducted in two parts, three years apart.

On each phase, the researchers looked at pain prescription opioid use disorders and how variables of age, gender, anxiety or mood disorders and family history of drug, alcohol and behavioral problems influenced these disorders. 

"These findings indicate that adults who report moderate or more severe pain are at increased risk of becoming addicted to prescription opioids," explained Mark Olfson, Professor, Columbia University Medical Center in the US.

The results also revealed that participants who reported pain with prescription opioid use disorders were also those concurrently suffering from mood or anxiety disorders. They were also the ones who have a family history of alcohol use disorder.

"In evaluating patients with pain, physicians should also be attentive to addiction risk factors such as age, sex and personal or family history of drug abuse," explained further by Olfson in the study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

The study called for clinicians to be more aware of the opioids they are prescribing. If they prescribe these,  it is important for them to constantly monitor their patients carefully for warning signs of opioid addiction as well.