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Characteristics of chronic pain patients in a rural teaching practice.

OBJECTIVE
To describe the characteristics of chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) patients taking oxycodone or its derivatives in a rural teaching practice.


DESIGN
Characteristics of CNCP patients taking oxycodone over a 5-year period (September 2003 to September 2008) were compared with those of patients not taking opioid medications using a retrospective chart audit.


SETTING
A rural teaching practice in southwestern Ontario.


PARTICIPANTS
A total of 103 patients taking chronic oxycodone therapy for CNCP and a random sample of 104 patients not taking opioid medication.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Number of visits, health problems, sex, and previous history of addiction and mental illness.


RESULTS
Patients with CNCP taking oxycodone had significantly more health problems (P < .001), including drug and tobacco addictions. They had more than 3 times as many clinic visits during the same period of time as patients not taking opioid medication (mean of 39.0 vs 12.8 visits, P < .001).


CONCLUSION
Patients with CNCP in this rural teaching practice had significantly more health issues (P < .001) and were more likely to have a history of addiction than other patients were. They created more work with significantly more visits over the same period compared with the comparison group.