Abstract
Pain is common among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), but little is known about
chronic pain in socioeconomically disadvantaged HIV-infected populations with high
rates of substance abuse in the postantiretroviral era. This cross-sectional study
describes the occurrence and characteristics of pain in a community-based cohort of
296 indigent PLWHA. Participants completed questionnaires about sociodemographics,
substance use, depression, and pain. Cut-point analysis was used to generate categories
of pain severity. Of the 270 participants who reported pain or the use of a pain medication
in the past week, 8.2% had mild pain, 38.1% had moderate pain, and 53.7% had severe
pain. Female sex and less education were associated with more severe pain. Depression
was more common among participants with severe pain than among those with mild pain.
Increasing pain severity was associated with daily pain and with chronic pain. Over
half of the participants reported having a prescription for an opioid analgesic. Findings
from this study suggest that chronic pain is a significant problem in this high risk,
socioeconomically disadvantaged group of patients with HIV disease and high rates
of previous or concurrent use of illicit drugs.
Perspective
This article presents epidemiological data showing that unrelieved chronic pain is
a significant problem for indigent people living with HIV. Participants reported pain
severity similar to those with metastatic cancer. Despite high rates of substance
use disorders, approximately half received prescriptions for opioid analgesics, although
few for long-acting agents.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 20, 2011
Accepted:
April 1,
2011
Received in revised form:
March 18,
2011
Received:
December 13,
2010
Footnotes
Funded by NIDA R01 DA022550, NIMH R01 MH054907 and NIH/NCRR UCSF-CTSI grant UL1RR024131.
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
