Relationships of Self-reported Opioid Use and Misuse and Pain Severity With Probable Major Depression Among Participants With Spinal Cord Injury.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relations of pain intensity, opioid use, and opioid misuse with depressive symptom severity and probable major depression (PMD) among participants with spinal cord injuries (SCI), controlling for demographic, injury, and socioeconomic characteristics. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: Medical University in the Southeastern United States (US). PARTICIPANTS: Participants (N=918) were identified from 1 of 2 sources including a specialty hospital and a state-based surveillance system in the Southeastern US. Participants were a minimum of 18 years old at enrollment and had SCI with non-complete recovery. Participants were on average 57.5 years old at the time of the study and an average of 24.4 years post SCI onset. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants completed a self-report assessment that included frequency of prescription opioid use and misuse, based on the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), and the PHQ - 9 to measure depressive symptom severity and PMD. RESULTS: Opioid use, opioid misuse, and pain intensity were related to elevated depressive symptom severity and higher odds of PMD. Non-Hispanic Blacks had fewer depressive symptoms and lower odds of PMD, as did those with higher incomes. Veterans had lower risk of PMD, whereas ambulatory participants had a higher risk of PMD. Age at SCI onset had a mixed pattern of significance, whereas years of education and years since injury were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: The relation between pain intensity with depressive symptom severity and PMD was profound, consistent with the biopsychosocial model of pain. The greater risk of PMD and higher depressive symptom severity among those using opioids and misusing opioids raises further concern about long-term prescription opioid use. Alternative treatments are needed.

All day in bed, all night in the wheelchair: Unmet attendant care needs of people with spinal cord injury.

CONTEXT: Having dependable attendant care is essential to the health and well-being of those most severely impacted by a spinal cord injury (SCI). Our objective was to identify how often people with SCI who require assistance for transfers either spend a full day in bed or all night in a wheelchair because they do not have paid or unpaid assistance. FINDINGS: Of the 918 respondents, 319 (34.7%) indicated they needed someone's help for basic activities of daily living and 229 (24.9%) relied on someone's assistance for wheelchair-to-bed transfers. Nearly a quarter of participants (22.2%) reported staying in bed all day for at least one once on during the past year, with a median of 10 times among those with at least one day. Men reported a higher rate than women (25.6%, 13.6%) and nonwhites-Hispanics (33.3%) reported a higher percentage than non-Hispanic whites (18.6%). Just over one in every 20 participants (5.3%) reported staying in the wheelchair at least one night because they did not have attendant care, with a median of 2.5 times among those with at least one night. Over one in 10 (11.7%) nonwhites and Hispanics reported at least one overnight in the wheelchair compared with only (3.1%) for non-Hispanic whites. CONCLUSION/CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Staying in bed all day and staying in the chair all night due to lack of attendant care represents a breakdown in the attendant care system and a threat to the well-being of those with SCI, particularly nonwhites and Hispanics, and men.

Relationships of self-reported opioid and benzodiazepine use with health-related quality of life among adults with spinal cord injury.

BACKGROUND: There is limited understanding of the relationships between prescription opioid and benzodiazepine use and indices of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among those with spinal cord injuries (SCI). OBJECTIVE: To identify the relationships between self-reported prescription opioid and benzodiazepine use and two indicators of HRQOL, number of days in poor physical health and poor mental health in the past 30 days among adults with SCI. METHODS: A cross-sectional cohort study of 918 adults with chronic (>1 year), traumatic SCI living in the Southeastern United States was conducted. Participants completed a self-report assessment (SRA). RESULTS: In the preliminary model, both opioid and benzodiazepine use were associated with a greater number of days in poor physical health and poor mental health in the past month. After controlling for health conditions (pain intensity, spasticity, anxiety and perceived sleep insufficiency), opioid use was associated with 2.04 (CI = 0.69; 3.39) additional poor physical health days in the past 30 days, and benzodiazepine use was associated with 2.18 (CI = 0.70; 3.64) additional days of poor mental health. Age was associated with greater number of poor physical health days and fewer poor mental health days. Lower income was associated with poor mental health days. Most of the health conditions were significantly related to the number of past month poor physical and mental health days. CONCLUSIONS: Opioid and benzodiazepine use are associated with poor physical and mental HRQOL, even after controlling for health conditions. Treatment strategies should consider potential unanticipated negative consequences of pharmacological interventions.