Opioid misuse and addiction constitute a significant public health challenge in the 21st century, with opioids involved in the majority of drug overdose deaths since 1999. A vigorously researched area that contributes substantially to the opioid misuse and addiction challenge is pain. The impact of pain, however, on important health outcomes for individuals in recovery from opioid use is less well understood. The effects of pain on substance use and mental health outcomes was investigated among individuals in recovery from opioid use disorder. Two studies are reported. First, the relationships between pain status and severity on substance use, treatment utilization, and mental health outcomes (e.g., depressive symptoms) was characterized cross-sectionally. Second, subgroups of OUD recovery defined by depression, opioid withdrawal, and pain were identified. Relationships between recovery subgroups, OUD symptoms, remission, opioid use, and quality of life were assessed. Finally, transitions among subgroups across 4 years of recovery were characterized. The present findings support pain as a key dimension of opioid use disorder recovery, highlighting the distinction between acute and chronic pain, the dynamic nature of opioid use disorder recovery, and emphasizing the necessity of integrating pain into opioid use disorder treatment. / Doctor of Philosophy / Misuse of and addiction to opioids is a significant health challenge. Pain has played a central role in facilitating the opioid epidemic in the United States, but the impact of pain on substance use and mental health outcomes for individuals in recovery from opioid use is less well understood. The following two studies investigated how pain affects substance use and mental health outcomes among individuals in recovery from opioid use disorder. Study 1 examined how different types of pain (chronic pain, acute pain, no pain) affect substance use, treatment use, and mental health measures (e.g., depression, quality of life). Study 2 investigated the role that depression, opioid withdrawal, and pain have in defining different groups in opioid recovery. Together these studies support pain as an important factor in OUD recovery, highlight the distinction between acute and chronic pain, emphasize the importance of integrating treatment for opioid use disorder and pain, and demonstrate that opioid use disorder recovery is a dynamic process with individuals transitioning among different recovery groups over time.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/115836 |
| Date | 24 July 2023 |
| Creators | Craft III, William Hugh |
| Contributors | Graduate School, Bickel, Warren K., Trestman, Robert L., Stein, Jeffrey S., Kim-Spoon, Jungmeen, Gilbert, Elizabeth Ruth |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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