Comorbidity of Lifetime History of Abuse and Trauma With Opioid Use Disorder: Implications for Nursing Assessment and Care.
Linda Driscoll Powers, Paul F Cook, Mary Weber and 2 others
PMID 35403485WHAT IT FOUND
Among adults with opioid use disorder, physical abuse was associated with chronic pain diagnosis and higher pain severity.
Emotional and sexual abuse histories were not associated with chronic pain.
Key findings
01Among responses to abuse questions, 23% reported lifetime sexual abuse, 43% reported lifetime physical abuse, and 58% reported lifetime emotional abuse.
02Physical abuse history was associated with chronic pain diagnosis and higher pain scores.
03Sexual and emotional abuse histories were not associated with chronic pain.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
High missing data: among 919 participants, only 463 to 469 abuse responses and 495 medical history responses were available, so the percentages are based on subsets. Missingness was related to which clinical site collected data, and complete cases were used because missingness exceeded 30%. Abuse history was self-reported, and underreporting is common, especially when participants were in active opioid withdrawal during data collection. Chronic pain was counted only when chronic pain was written in an open-ended section after a doctor-confirmed diagnosis question, so people with pain but no formal diagnosis may be missed. The analysis was secondary and observational, so it cannot show that abuse caused opioid use disorder or chronic pain.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The paper was supported by NIH extramural research funding. The parent program was funded by the Colorado state legislature via Senate Bill 17-074 and coordinated by the University of Colorado College of Nursing.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these findings as proof that abuse caused opioid use disorder or chronic pain. This was an observational secondary analysis of program data, and it tested associations, not treatment effects.