ArticleRMD open2024
Long versus short-term opioid therapy for fibromyalgia syndrome and risk of depression, sleep disorders and suicidal ideation: a population-based, propensity-weighted cohort study.
Article in RMD open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Impact of Sleep Disturbances Treatment in Patients With Fibromyalgia: A Scoping Review.Journal of sleep research · 2026Article
- Article
- Microglial Activation in Nociplastic Pain: From Preclinical Models to PET Neuroimaging and Implications for Targeted Therapeutic Strategies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Review
- The Genetic Association Between Prescription Pain Medication Use and the Risk for Fibromyalgia: A Bidirectional and Multivariable Mendelian Randomization Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveFibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is characterised by widespread pain and is associated with mood disorders such as depression as well as poor sleep quality. These in turn have been linked to increased risk of suicidal ideation. Clinical guidelines generally do not recommended opioids in FMS, but they are routinely prescribed to a considerable proportion of FMS patients. We assessed the association of long-term opioid prescription for FMS with risk of depression, sleep disorders and suicidal ideation, when compared with short-term opioid use.
methodsRetrospective cohort study combing several population-wide databases covering a population of five million inhabitants, including all adults who received an initial opioid prescription from 2014 to 2018 specifically prescribed for FMS. We examined the occurrence of depression, sleep disorders or suicidal ideation outcomes in patients with an initial long-term opioid prescription (>90 days) versus those who received a short-term treatment (<29 days). We employed multivariable Cox regression modelling and inverse probability of treatment weighting based on propensity scores and we performed several sensitivity analyses.
results10 334 patients initiated short-term (8309, 80.40%) or long-term (2025, 19.60%) opioids for FMS. In main adjusted analyses, long-term opioid use was associated with an increased risk for depression (HR: 1.58, 95% CI 1.29 to 1.95) and sleep disorder (HR: 1.30, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.55) but not with suicidal ideation (HR: 1.59, 95% CI 0.96 to 2.62). In models assessing outcomes since day 90, an increased risk for suicidal ideation was observed (HR: 1.76, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.98).
conclusionThese findings suggest that continued opioid use for 90 days or more may aggravate depression and sleep problems in patients with FMS when compared with patterns of short-term treatment.
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