The following is a summary of “Impact of complementary health approaches on opioid prescriptions among veterans with musculoskeletal disorders—A retrospective cohort study,” published in the October 2024 issue of Pain by Han et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to investigate complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches to reduce opioid prescriptions for pain and affect the differences based on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis.   

They studied 1,993,455 veterans with musculoskeletal disorders from 2005 to 2017 and used electronic health records to identify people who used CIH approaches like meditation, yoga, and acupuncture along with that the opioid prescriptions were also checked and matched each Veteran who used CIH with a similar veteran who didn’t.   

The results showed that 1,40,902 (7.1%) veterans received at least 1 CIH modality over 2 years, among the matched sample of 2,72,296 veterans, those using CIH were significantly less likely to receive opioid prescriptions [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR), 0.45 (95% CI: 0.44-0.46)]. This association was consistent for veterans with and without PTSD. Sensitivity analyses found that the CIH group had 3.82 (95% CI: 3.76-3.87) months longer time to opioid initiation, 2% (95% CI: 4%-1%) lower morphine equivalent, and 17% lower total days’ supply (95% CI: 18%-16%). However, the relationship became less intense after accounting for waiting time for the CIH group (aHR, 0.63 (95% CI: 0.62-0.64)).   

Investigators concluded the CIH approaches significantly reduce opioid prescriptions for patients with musculoskeletal disorders, but further research is needed to assess the timing of these interventions. 

Source: jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(24)00664-3/abstract