Am J Gastroenterol

Which IBD patients are most prone to chronic opioid use?

February 7, 2025

Clinical impact: Study findings highlight the high prevalence of chronic opioid use among IBD patients and identifies key predictors, including surgery, use of hypnotics/sedatives, and older age. The findings can aid clinicians in risk stratification and emphasize the need for alternative pain management strategies to prevent chronic opioid use in this population.

Study design: This nationwide cohort study utilized Danish registries to identify incident patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) from January 1, 1996, to December 31, 2021. Chronic opioid use was defined as >1 prescription in at least 2 of 3 consecutive quarters. Cox regression models were employed to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for predictors of chronic opioid use, incorporating various variables and time-varying covariates such as IBD surgery and psychotropic medications.

Results: Among 15,092 CD patients, 27.4% became chronic opioid users, with surgery (aHR, 4.20), use of hypnotics/sedatives (aHR, 2.02), and age over 50 years (aHR, 1.92) being the most significant predictors. In 30,416 UC patients, 22.3% became chronic opioid users, with surgery (aHR, 4.81), age over 50 years (aHR, 2.62), and use of hypnotics/sedatives (aHR, 2.11) as the primary predictors.

Source:

Nørgård BM, et al. (2025, February 5). Am J Gastroenterol. Predictors for chronic opioid use in patients with inflammatory bowel disease - a population based cohort study. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39907246/