• Julie L Cunningham, Sarah E Hayes, Cynthia O Townsend, Heidi J Laures, and W Michael Hooten.
• Department of Pharmacy, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
• Pain Med. 2012 Aug 1;13(8):1034-9.

ObjectiveThe primary aim of this study was to determine the effects of spouse or significant other solicitous responses on morphine equivalent dose among adults with chronic pain.DesignRetrospective design.SettingMultidisciplinary pain rehabilitation center.PatientsThe cohort included 466 consecutively admitted patients who had a spouse or significant other and were using daily opioids. Intervention. Three-week outpatient pain rehabilitation program.Outcome MeasuresSolicitous subscale of the Multidimensional Pain Inventory and morphine equivalent dose upon admission.ResultsThe mean solicitous subscale score and morphine equivalent dose were 49.8 (standard deviation [SD] = 8.7) and 118mg/day (SD =149), respectively. Univariate linear regression analysis showed that greater subscale scores were associated with greater doses of opioids (P = 0.007). In a multivariate model adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, years of education, employment status, pain duration, depression, and pain severity, the association retained significance (P = 0.007).ConclusionsThese findings suggest solicitous responses from a spouse or significant other may have an important influence on opioid dose among adults with chronic pain.Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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