Abstract
Concomitant use of opioids and promethazine has been reported in various subpopulations, including methadone maintenance patients, injection drug users, and at-risk teenagers. Promethazine is thought to potentiate the "high" from opioids. However, to date, the prevalence of promethazine use has not been determined among patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain. Urine samples from 921 patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain were analyzed for promethazine. Demographic data, toxicology results, and opioid prescription information were obtained through medical record abstraction. We assessed the prevalence and factors associated with promethazine use with bivariable and multivariable statistics. The prevalence of promethazine-positive urine samples among chronic pain patients was 9%. Only 50% of promethazine-positive patients had an active prescription for promethazine. Having benzodiazepine-positive urine with no prescription for a benzodiazepine was statistically associated with promethazine use. Also, having a prescription for methadone for pain or being in methadone maintenance for the treatment of opioid dependence were both statistically associated with promethazine use. Chronic pain patients prescribed only a long-a...Continue Reading
References
Jul 1, 1992·Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica·R A SinghV K Varma
Sep 1, 1996·Addiction·L C LamC N Chen
Dec 1, 1996·The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology·J GerostamoulosO H Drummer
May 15, 1998·Addiction·S K MattooA Malhotra
Jul 31, 2001·Journal of Psychoactive Drugs·W N Elwood
Apr 8, 2003·Current Drug Metabolism·A Sharma, B A Hamelin
Nov 1, 1956·Annals of Surgery·J P MCGEE, W A WEISS
Sep 23, 2003·Anesthesia and Analgesia·Nathaniel P KatzGilbert J Fanciullo
May 4, 2004·Journal of Pain and Symptom Management·Laura L AdamsCarl Noe
Jul 9, 2004·Journal of Drug Education·Ronald J PetersArtist Ellis
Jul 19, 2005·Drug and Alcohol Dependence·Wilson M Compton, Nora D Volkow
Oct 31, 2006·International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health·Daniel T L Shek, Ching-man Lam
Jan 18, 2007·Annals of Internal Medicine·Bridget A MartellDavid A Fiellin
Jan 24, 2007·The Clinical Journal of Pain·Edward MichnaAjay D Wasan
Dec 21, 2007·Journal of Forensic Sciences·Lisa B E ShieldsDonna Stewart
Dec 28, 2007·Journal of Psychoactive Drugs·Ronald PetersE James Essien
Dec 11, 2008·JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association·Aron J HallLeonard J Paulozzi
May 21, 2009·Anaesthesia·R OwczukM Wujtewicz
Jan 20, 2010·Annals of Internal Medicine·A Thomas McLellan, Barbara J Turner
Feb 10, 2010·Substance Use & Misuse·Michael ClattsVivian Colón-López
Aug 27, 2011·Addictive Behaviors·Nidhi KhoslaShruti H Mehta
Feb 7, 2013·Journal of Addiction Medicine·Brad J ShapiroAlex H Kral
May 22, 2013·Addictive Behaviors·Laura E AgnichCatherine D Marcum
Jun 3, 2014·Harm Reduction Journal·Saroj Prasad OjhaUwe Verthein
Citations
Jan 11, 2016·Drug and Alcohol Dependence·Scott P NovakGary A Zarkin
Apr 29, 2016·MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report·Kathy T VoCraig G Smollin
Jun 5, 2016·Journal of Addiction Medicine·Jamie K LimAlexander Y Walley
May 9, 2018·Journal of Perioperative Practice·Jonathan P EskanderCharles J Fox
Apr 11, 2019·Journal of Medical Primatology·Lisa M Wooldridge, Brian D Kangas
Jan 18, 2017·Journal of Addiction·Disa DahlmanAnders Hakansson
Apr 25, 2017·The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing·Rebecca R Safley, Jamie Swietlikowski
Jan 12, 2021·Journal of Psychopharmacology·Stefania ChiappiniAmira Guirguis
Nov 2, 2020·Harm Reduction Journal·Jaimie P MeyerFrederick L Altice
Mar 18, 2021·British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology·Princess J OyekanCaroline S Copeland
Aug 24, 2020·The Lancet. Psychiatry·Hanad Ahmed