A June 2022 paper (1) assessed the relation of obesity to opioid use in people with or at risk of knee osteoarthritis, and the extent to which this association is mediated by number of painful joints or depressive symptoms.
- The researchers studied 2335 participants (average age 68 and considered obese). They found that people with obesity had 50% or more higher odds of opioid use than those people not considered obese. Further: “Multi-joint pain and depressive symptoms partially explained greater opioid use among obese persons with knee osteoarthritis, demonstrating that the negative impact of obesity on knee osteoarthritis extends beyond its influence on knee pain and structural progression.”
1 Carlesso LC, Jafarzadeh SR, Stokes A, Felson DT, Wang N, Frey-Law L, Lewis CE, Nevitt M, Neogi T, Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study Group. Depressive Symptoms and Multi-joint Pain Partially Mediate the Relationship Between Obesity and Opioid Use in People with Knee Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage. 2022 Jun 11.
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