Table 2.
Pain Characteristics, Therapies, Substance Use, and Self-Reported Symptoms Among Participants who Have Used Stimulants in the Past Year by Whether they Used Stimulants to Treat Pain in the Past Year (N=105)
| Participants Who Have Used Stimulants to Treat Pain in the Past Year (n=55) | Participants Who Have Not Used Stimulants to Treat Pain in the Past Year (n=50) | p−value | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | |||
| Pain Characteristics | ||||||
| Pain on average in past 3 months (mdn, IQR) | 8 (7–9) | 7 (6–8) | 0.049 | |||
| Pain catastrophizing | 0.38 | |||||
| Score <30 | 34 | 62% | 35 | 70% | ||
| Score ≥30 | 21 | 38% | 15 | 30% | ||
| Neuropathic pain score † | 0.13 | |||||
| No neuropathic pain | 17 | 32% | 22 | 47% | ||
| Neuropathic pain | 36 | 68% | 25 | 53% | ||
| DN4 score (mean, SD) | 4.45 | 2.28 | 3.42 | 2.04 | 0.017 | |
| Cold pressor test † | ||||||
| Cold pain threshold (sec) (mdn, IQR) | 7.48 | (5.21–11.9) | 8.03 | (5.50–10.4) | 0.93 | |
| Cold pain tolerance (sec) (mdn, IQR) | 13.2 | (7.98–20.7) | 13.0 | (8.61–18.9) | 0.87 | |
| Non-Opioid Medications & Complementary Therapies | ||||||
| Non-opioid medications currently prescribed to treat pain | ||||||
| None | 13 | 24% | 19 | 38% | 0.11 | |
| Neuropathic pain medications | 32 | 58% | 23 | 46% | 0.21 | |
| Medical Marijuana | 16 | 29% | 12 | 24% | 0.56 | |
| Other non-opioid medications to treat pain | 23 | 42% | 10 | 20% | 0.016 | |
| Complementary/Alternative therapies† † | 0.82 | |||||
| None in the past year | 32 | 58% | 28 | 56% | ||
| Any in the past year | 23 | 42% | 22 | 44% | ||
| Substance Use and Opioid Prescription Medications | ||||||
| Frequency of stimulant use | 0.29 | |||||
| Less than weekly | 24 | 44% | 27 | 54% | ||
| At least weekly | 31 | 56% | 23 | 46% | ||
| Past year injection drug use | 0.14 | |||||
| No injection in past year | 25 | 45% | 30 | 60% | ||
| Injection in past year | 30 | 55% | 20 | 40% | ||
| Heroin use | 0.22 | |||||
| Did not use heroin in past year | 31 | 56% | 34 | 68% | ||
| Used heroin in the past year | 24 | 44% | 16 | 32% | ||
| Maximum MME in past year (mdn, IQR) | 180 (69–305) | 164 (68–300) | 0.72 | |||
| Opioid Prescription Discontinuation | 0.65 | |||||
| Not discontinued in past year | 42 | 76% | 40 | 80% | ||
| Discontinued in past year | 13 | 24% | 10 | 20% | ||
| Self-reported Symptoms | ||||||
| Brief symptom inventory (BSI-18) | ||||||
| BSI score (mdn, IQR) | 16.0 (12–29) | 12.5 (5–29) | 0.086 | |||
| Anxiety items | 4.0 (2–5) | 3.0 (1–6) | 0.33 | |||
| PTSD on Primary Care PTSD Screen (PC-PTSD) | 0.67 | |||||
| No PTSD | 33 | 60% | 32 | 64% | ||
| PTSD | 22 | 40% | 18 | 36% | ||
| Depression scale (PHQ-8) | 0.027 | |||||
| No or mild depression (<10) | 28 | 51% | 36 | 72% | ||
| Moderate or severe depression (≥10) | 27 | 49% | 14 | 28% | ||
†
Five participants did not do the neuropathic pain assessment and eight did not complete the cold pressor test.
† †
Complementary/alternative therapies include chiropractic care, physical or occupational therapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, and group or individual counseling.