Opioid Dose and Risk of Road Trauma in Canada

Impact of preexisting opioid use on injury mechanism, type, and outcome

“…Two randomized controlled trials found no significant effect of opioids on driving performance [10,11], whereas other studies suggest that opioids can lead to impairment in driving abilities [13,14]. Our data did not show any significant difference in the rate of motor vehicle collision between patients taking narcotics and those not taking narcotics.…”

Characteristics of patients receiving long-term opioid therapy for chronic noncancer pain: a cross-sectional survey of patients attending the Pain Management Centre at Hamilton General Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario

“…[25][26][27][28][29] We found that most of our respondents reported moderate improvement in both pain relief and functional ability with long-term opioid therapy; however, less than 1 in 5 patients were able to sustain even part-time work, and we found no evidence of an association between self-reported improvement in pain and function and gainful employment. Among our respondents, higher morphine equivalent dose was associated with greater self-reported functional improvement but not pain relief or employment.…”

Trends in Any and High-Dose Opioid Analgesic Receipt Among Aging Patients With and Without HIV

“…Mental health disorders, more prevalent among HIV populations in general, have been shown to be associated with serious opioid-related adverse events [6–8, 47] opioid misuse [48–50] and opioid use disorders [17, 32], yet we found an association between PTSD and major depression and any and high-dose opioid receipt even after adjusting for number of pain diagnoses as a marker of pain severity. While it is possible that incompletely captured pain severity explained the increased likelihood of any and high-dose opioid receipt in these groups, the observed pattern exposes an already-vulnerable population to greater risk.…”