ArticlePain research & management2026
Pain Medication Use and Perceived Effectiveness in People With Multiple Sclerosis: A Mixed-Methods Study.
Article in Pain research & management, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Pain Medication Use and Perceived Effectiveness in People With Multiple Sclerosis: A Mixed-Methods Study.Pain research & management · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIndividuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) often use multiple medications, but evidence comparing their effectiveness is scarce. This study aims to (a) describe pain medication use and perceived effectiveness, (b) identify factors associated with the total number of pain medications, (c) explore the reasons for stopping and (d) use qualitative data to explore the lived experience of PwMS in relation to pain medication effectiveness and reasons for stopping.
methodsParticipants from the Australian MS Longitudinal Study completed a pain survey in 2021 (n = 1691); 26 participants self-nominated to participate in focus groups. Participants with regular pain were asked which pain medications they used, to what extent the medications reduced pain, which medications they stopped using and the reasons for stopping. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics; negative binomial regression was used to determine factors associated with the total number of medications. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis.
resultsAmong 899 participants with regular pain, 87.3% were using pain medication. In terms of perceived effectiveness, 62.3% of all reported medications resulted in 'much improvement', 'very much improvement' or 'complete pain relief'. The medications commonly reported to be effective were opioid-containing medications, cannabinoids, antimigraine medications, a combination of paracetamol and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) products and sedatives. Having more pain types, greater pain severity, being female and greater disability (all p < 0.05) were associated with taking a higher number of medications. Common reasons for stopping a medication were side effects and ineffectiveness. Qualitative data supported the quantitative findings.
conclusionsMost people with pain used medications, and the effectiveness was acceptable for the majority of people. Despite that, stopping medications until the right ones were found was common, often due to side effects and ineffectiveness. This suggests that, with adjustments to treatment plans, effective pain control is achievable for most PwMS with pain.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.