Prevalence of opioid use in adults with spinal cord injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Published 13th February 2024
Authors: Borg, S., Cameron., C., Leutsch, K., Rolley, A., Geraghty, T., McPhail S., McCreanor, V.
Hopkins Centre researcher, Professor Tim Geraghty was co-author on this systematic review investigating opioid use in people with spinal cord cord which is the first paper related to Ms Sam Borg’s PhD which she is undertaking through Queensland University of Technology.
Sam Borg’s interest in this area was piqued during work related to the TRaCE program of research, when she investigated pharmaceutical use in people following SCI. This led to the first paper earlier and then to her PhD.
This review found many studies reporting the prevalence of opioid use across a diverse range of study populations, including aged, male only and Veteran cohorts. The pooled prevalence of opioid use across the included studies was 39%, but there was large variability in the prevalence in different studies. This indicates a strong need for further studies in this area, especially for under-research areas and populations, including people with SCI in Australia. In addition, the review identified that many studies had poor reporting across SCI characteristics and opioid context.
The review recommends a number of variables that researchers should aim to be reported for better transparency, clarity of information and comparison across studies.
Borg SJ, Cameron CM, Luetsch K, Rolley A, Geraghty T, McPhail S & McCreanor V. Prevalence of opioid use in adults with spinal cord injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Pre-print link: https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/yd296
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