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Prescription Opioid Analgesics Increase the Risk of Depression

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ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

Prescription opioid analgesic use has quintupled recently. Evidence linking opioid use with depression emanates from animal models and studies of persons with co-occurring substance use and major depression. Little is known about depressogenic effects of opioid use in other populations.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine whether prescription opioids are associated with increased risk of diagnosed depression.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study, new user design.

PATIENTS

Medical record data from 49,770 US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system patients with no recent (24-month) history of opioid use or a diagnosis of depression in 1999 and 2000.

MAIN MEASURES

Propensity scores were used to control for bias by indication, and the data were weighted to balance the distribution of covariates by duration of incident opioid exposure. Cox proportional hazard models with adjustment for painful conditions were used to estimate the association between duration of prescription opioid use and the subsequent risk of development of depression between 2001 and 2007.

KEY RESULTS

Of 49,770 patients who were prescribed an opioid analgesic, 91 % had a prescription for < 90 days, 4 % for 90–180 days, and 5 % for > 180 days. Compared to patients whose prescription was for < 90 days, the risk of depression increased significantly as the duration of opioid prescription increased (HR = 1.25; 95 % CI: 1.05–1.46 for 90–180 days, and HR = 1.51; 95  % CI:1.31–1.74 for > 180 days).

CONCLUSIONS

In this sample of veterans with no recent (24-month) history of depression or opioid analgesic use, the risk of development of depression increased as the duration of opioid analgesic exposure increased. The potential for depressogenic effect should be considered in risk-benefit discussions, and patients initiating opioid treatment should be monitored for development of depression.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a VA HSR&D Career Development Award-2 granted to Jeffrey F. Scherrer, Ph.D. The funding agency had no role in the design or conduct of the study, data analysis and interpretation, preparation of the manuscript, and review or approval of the manuscript. Dr. Scherrer had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for data integrity and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they do not have a conflict of interest.

Funding Source

Veteran’s Administration Career Development Award to Dr. Scherrer

Statement of Authorship

All authors had access to aggregate data and contributed to writing the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Service, Clinical Research and Epidemiology Workgroup, St. Louis VA Medical Center, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Jeffrey F. Scherrer PhD, Timothy Chrusciel MPH & Sumitra Balasubramanian MS

  2. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Jeffrey F. Scherrer PhD & Kathleen K. Bucholz PhD

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Jeffrey F. Scherrer PhD, Dragan M. Svrakic MD, PhD, Kenneth E. Freedland PhD, Sumitra Balasubramanian MS & Patrick J. Lustman PhD

  4. The Bell Street Clinic, John Cochran Hospital, St. Louis VA Medical Center, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Dragan M. Svrakic MD, PhD & Patrick J. Lustman PhD

  5. Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center, VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Boston Healthcare System, Jamaica Plain, MA, USA

    Elizabeth V. Lawler DSc, MPH

  6. Harvard Medical School and Division of Aging, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Elizabeth V. Lawler DSc, MPH

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  1. Jeffrey F. Scherrer PhD
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Correspondence to Jeffrey F. Scherrer PhD.

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ICD-9-CM codes used to define diagnoses (DOCX 16 kb)

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Scherrer, J.F., Svrakic, D.M., Freedland, K.E. et al. Prescription Opioid Analgesics Increase the Risk of Depression. J GEN INTERN MED 29, 491–499 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-013-2648-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-013-2648-1

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