• Justine Lavergne, Marion Debin, Thierry Blanchon, Vittoria Colizza, Lise Dassieu, Laetitia Gimenez, Charly Kengne-Kuetche, Maryse Lapeyre-Mestre, and Julie Dupouy.
• Département Universitaire de Médecine Générale, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France.
• Eur J Pain. 2022 Mar 1; 26 (3): 729-739.

BackgroundIn Europe and France, the use of opioid analgesic drugs has become widespread as an option for pain management. However, their use can lead to nonmedical use and/or opioid use disorder (OUD). This work aimed to assess the perceived risk of OUD secondary to opioid analgesic drugs use by the general population.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional observational study using the GrippeNet web-based cohort, comprising about 10,000 French volunteers from the general population, using a self-administered questionnaire. The main outcome was the perceived risk of OUD secondary to opioid analgesic drugs use, assessed by a 4-item scale and modelled using logistic regression (backward procedure).ResultsAmong 5046 French respondents, after adjustment, 65% believed that the use of analgesic drugs could likely or very likely lead to OUD. Factors associated with the perception of a higher risk were being over 50 and having heard about opioids in the media. Previous opioid use and a high level of education decreased the perception of the risk. Among those having used opioids in the past 2 years (N = 1770), 71.1% reported being not at all concerned by this risk. The majority of the sample perceived the risk of OUD but those having already used opioid analgesics drugs expressed no concern about this risk for themselves.ConclusionsThis finding highlight the need to reinforce warning on the package insert documents, therapeutic education and collaborative care between the prescribing general practitioners and pharmacists to increase awareness of opioid medications users on the risk of OUD.SignificanceThis study found that the risk of OUD secondary to opioid analgesics use is well perceived in the general population, but that those having already used opioid analgesics expressed little concern for themselves. This finding could potentially help to raise awareness of healthcare providers and policy makers on the lack of perceived risk regarding these drugs and the need to inform and identify at-risk patients in primary care.© 2021 European Pain Federation - EFIC ®.

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