TY - JOUR
T1 - Lower levels of bodily pain increase risk for non-medical use of prescription drugs among current US reserve soldiers
AU - Vest, Bonnie M.
AU - Hoopsick, Rachel A.
AU - Homish, D. Lynn
AU - Homish, Gregory G.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was also supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration award number T32HP30035 in support of Rachel A. Hoopsick (PI: Linda S. Kahn). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health . Portions of this work were presented as an oral presentation at the College on Problems of Drug Dependence Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, June 2019.
Funding Information:
Role of Funding Source: Research reported in this manuscript was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse under award number R01DA034072 to Gregory G. Homish and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number UL1TR001412 to the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The NIH had no role in the study design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/9
Y1 - 2020/9
N2 - Background: Military populations have a higher prevalence of pain compared to their civilian counterparts and are also at increased risk for substance use. The link between clinically significant pain and substance use has been established, but it is unclear if lower levels of pain relate to risk. The goal of this inquiry was to determine if level of bodily pain was associated with increased risk of current substance use over time among a community sample of U.S. Army Reserve/National Guard (USAR/NG) soldiers. Methods: Data were drawn from an ongoing study of USAR/NG soldiers. We used generalized estimating equations to examine the longitudinal impact of baseline bodily pain level (modeled in standard deviations from the mean pain score) on current drug use (illicit and non-medical use of prescription drugs [NMUPD]) among soldiers (n = 387) over two-years. Final models controlled for baseline post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression symptomatology, history of deployment (yes/no), years of military service, and substance use norms. Results: Bodily pain was longitudinally associated with increased odds of current NMUPD (AOR: 1.49, p <.05), but not with the current use of illicit drugs (AOR: 1.18, p >.05), controlling for symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, depression, deployment, years of service, and substance use norms. Conclusions: Overall, our findings indicate that bodily pain is longitudinally associated with NMUPD among male soldiers, but not with illicit drugs. Significantly, our results stem from a non-clinical sample of soldiers with overall lower levels of pain. This indicates that pain may be important, even at lower levels, and underscores the importance of early non-pharmacologic interventions for pain.
AB - Background: Military populations have a higher prevalence of pain compared to their civilian counterparts and are also at increased risk for substance use. The link between clinically significant pain and substance use has been established, but it is unclear if lower levels of pain relate to risk. The goal of this inquiry was to determine if level of bodily pain was associated with increased risk of current substance use over time among a community sample of U.S. Army Reserve/National Guard (USAR/NG) soldiers. Methods: Data were drawn from an ongoing study of USAR/NG soldiers. We used generalized estimating equations to examine the longitudinal impact of baseline bodily pain level (modeled in standard deviations from the mean pain score) on current drug use (illicit and non-medical use of prescription drugs [NMUPD]) among soldiers (n = 387) over two-years. Final models controlled for baseline post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression symptomatology, history of deployment (yes/no), years of military service, and substance use norms. Results: Bodily pain was longitudinally associated with increased odds of current NMUPD (AOR: 1.49, p <.05), but not with the current use of illicit drugs (AOR: 1.18, p >.05), controlling for symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, depression, deployment, years of service, and substance use norms. Conclusions: Overall, our findings indicate that bodily pain is longitudinally associated with NMUPD among male soldiers, but not with illicit drugs. Significantly, our results stem from a non-clinical sample of soldiers with overall lower levels of pain. This indicates that pain may be important, even at lower levels, and underscores the importance of early non-pharmacologic interventions for pain.
KW - Drug use
KW - Military populations
KW - Non-medical use of prescription drugs
KW - Pain
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U2 - 10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106443
DO - 10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106443
M3 - Article
C2 - 32315933
AN - SCOPUS:85083337716
SN - 0306-4603
VL - 108
JO - Addictive Behaviors
JF - Addictive Behaviors
M1 - 106443
ER -