Characteristics of chronic pain patients in a rural teaching practice.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the characteristics of chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) patients taking oxycodone or its derivatives in a rural teaching practice.

DESIGN

Characteristics of CNCP patients taking oxycodone over a 5-year period (September 2003 to September 2008) were compared with those of patients not taking opioid medications using a retrospective chart audit.

SETTING

A rural teaching practice in southwestern Ontario.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 103 patients taking chronic oxycodone therapy for CNCP and a random sample of 104 patients not taking opioid medication.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of visits, health problems, sex, and previous history of addiction and mental illness.

RESULTS

Patients with CNCP taking oxycodone had significantly more health problems (P < .001), including drug and tobacco addictions. They had more than 3 times as many clinic visits during the same period of time as patients not taking opioid medication (mean of 39.0 vs 12.8 visits, P < .001).

CONCLUSION

Patients with CNCP in this rural teaching practice had significantly more health issues (P < .001) and were more likely to have a history of addiction than other patients were. They created more work with significantly more visits over the same period compared with the comparison group.