Pain in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Is Not Improved During Hospitalization: The Impact of Opioids on Pain and Healthcare Utilization

Background Most patients with IBD experience pain, especially during acute disease exacerbations. Opioid use continues to be more prevalent in IBD than any other chronic gastrointestinal condition, and the majority of IBD patients consume narcotics during hospitalization despite the risks of infection and death. Methods We performed a retrospective review of 57 subjects aimed at quantifying pain and opiate consumption for IBD-related admissions over a 3-month period. For each patient, the average and maximum of each day's pain scores were used to measure changes in pain from admission to discharge using mixed model regression, with opiate use as a time-dependent covariate. Results The daily average pain score over the entire hospitalization was 4.23 +/- 2.09, and the maximum pain score was 8.28 +/- 1.75. Among opioid users (n = 51), the daily average pain score was 4.65 +/- 2.16 and the maximum pain score was 7.53 +/- 2.56. Across all cases from admission to discharge, there was less than a 1-point change in daily average pain (- 0.96 +/- 2.03, p = 0.0009), and no change in maximum pain (- 0.89 +/- 3.59, p = 0.0671). Opioid users, a subset of the overall cohort, had a similar less than one-point drop in daily average pain (- 0.94 +/- - 0.29, p = 0.0024) and no change in daily maximum pain scores (- 0.81 +/- - 0.47, p = 0.0914). Patients on average used 20 +/- 25 mg morphine equivalents per day. Opioid-naive patients used similar doses to those who used opioids prior to admission (PTA). Almost half of all cases (47%) were discharged with an opioid prescription, the majority (71%) of whom were not on opioids PTA. Conclusions Pain in IBD is not well controlled through hospitalization, with less than a 1-point change from admission to discharge, despite significant opioid consumption. Alternative analgesic methods should be explored, given the significant impact of narcotics on long-term outcomes including mortality and quality of life.