Aims: We aimed to explore how pain severity changes with OAT (opioid agonist treatment) status in a longitudinal cohort of people who inject drugs.
Methods: Data were drawn from the Melbourne Injecting Drug User Cohort Study (SuperMIX) (2008-2024). Eligible participants were adults who reported ever being in OAT. Pain severity in the past four weeks was reported (no, mild, moderate, and severe pain). Ordinal logistic regression and linear mixed-effect models examined correlates of pain severity and OAT status (i.e. in/out of treatment).
Key Findings: A total of 1,328 participants (mean age: 36.7 years) were eligible for inclusion. Most were male (67.7%) and unemployed (88.4%). At baseline, 65.0% of participants reported pain in the past four weeks. Female gender, older age, sleep difficulties and severe emotional problems were associated with more severe pain. There was no association between pain severity and current OAT status.