Open Collections

UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Self-management of pain among people who inject drugs in Vancouver Voon, Pauline; Callon, Cody; Nguyen, Paul; Dobrer, Sabina; Montaner, Julio; Wood, Evan; Kerr, Thomas

Abstract

Aims—To evaluate factors and methods associated with self-management of pain among people who inject drugs (IDUs) in Vancouver (Canada). Patients & methods—This cross-sectional study used bivariate statistics and multivariate logistic regression to analyze self-reported responses among 483 IDUs reporting moderate-toextreme pain in two prospective cohort studies from 1 December 2012 to 31 May 2013. Results—Median age was 49.6 years (interquartile range: 43.9–54.6 years), 33.1% of IDUs were female and 97.5% reported self-management of pain. Variables independently and positively associated with self-managed pain included having been refused a prescription for pain medication (adjusted odds ratio: 7.83; 95% CI: 1.64–37.3) and having ever been homeless (adjusted odds ratio: 3.70; 95% CI: 1.00–13.7). Common methods of self-management of pain included injecting heroin (52.7%) and obtaining diverted prescription pain medication from the street (65.0%). Conclusion—Self-management of pain was common among IDUs who reported moderate-toextreme pain in this setting, particularly among those who had been refused a prescription for pain medication and those who had ever been homeless. These data highlight the challenges of adequate pain management among IDUs.

Item Metadata

Title
Self-management of pain among people who inject drugs in Vancouver
Creator
Voon, Pauline; Callon, Cody; Nguyen, Paul; Dobrer, Sabina; Montaner, Julio; Wood, Evan; Kerr, Thomas
Contributor
British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
Date Issued
2014-01
Description
Aims—To evaluate factors and methods associated with self-management of pain among people who inject drugs (IDUs) in Vancouver (Canada). Patients & methods—This cross-sectional study used bivariate statistics and multivariate logistic regression to analyze self-reported responses among 483 IDUs reporting moderate-toextreme pain in two prospective cohort studies from 1 December 2012 to 31 May 2013. Results—Median age was 49.6 years (interquartile range: 43.9–54.6 years), 33.1% of IDUs were female and 97.5% reported self-management of pain. Variables independently and positively associated with self-managed pain included having been refused a prescription for pain medication (adjusted odds ratio: 7.83; 95% CI: 1.64–37.3) and having ever been homeless (adjusted odds ratio: 3.70; 95% CI: 1.00–13.7). Common methods of self-management of pain included injecting heroin (52.7%) and obtaining diverted prescription pain medication from the street (65.0%). Conclusion—Self-management of pain was common among IDUs who reported moderate-toextreme pain in this setting, particularly among those who had been refused a prescription for pain medication and those who had ever been homeless. These data highlight the challenges of adequate pain management among IDUs.
Geographic Location
Downtown-Eastside (Vancouver, B.C.)
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2018-04-18
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0365799
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/65500
Affiliation
Medicine, Faculty of; Medicine, Department of
Citation
Voon, P., Callon, C., Nguyen, P., Dobrer, S., Montaner, J., Wood, E., & Kerr, T. (2013). Self-management of pain among people who inject drugs in Vancouver. Pain Management, 4(1), 27-35. doi:10.2217/pmt.13.62
Publisher DOI
10.2217/pmt.13.62
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Researcher
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

Item Media

Item Citations and Data

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International