Elsevier

The Journal of Pain

Volume 13, Issue 3, March 2012, Pages 285-292
The Journal of Pain

Original Report
Smoking Cigarettes as a Coping Strategy for Chronic Pain Is Associated With Greater Pain Intensity and Poorer Pain-Related Function

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2011.11.008Get rights and content
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Abstract

Smoking cigarettes is prevalent among individuals with chronic pain. Some studies indicate nicotine reduces pain and others suggest it may cause or exacerbate pain. Participants in this cross-sectional study were 151 chronic pain patients from a large, urban VA medical center. Patients were divided into 3 groups: 1) nonsmokers; 2) smokers who deny using cigarettes to cope with pain; and 3) smokers who report using cigarettes to cope with pain. Patients who reported smoking as a coping strategy for chronic pain scored significantly worse compared with the other 2 groups on the majority of measures of pain-related outcome. Nonsmokers and smokers who denied smoking to cope did not differ on any variable examined. After controlling for the effects of demographic and clinical factors, smoking cigarettes as a coping strategy for pain was significantly and positively associated with pain intensity (P = .04), pain interference (P = .005), and fear of pain (P = .04). In addition to assessing general smoking status, a more specific assessment of the chronic pain patient’s reasons for smoking may be an important consideration as part of interdisciplinary pain treatment.

Perspective

This paper describes the relationship between smoking cigarettes as a mechanism to cope with chronic pain and pain-related outcome. Understanding this relationship may illuminate the broader relationship between smoking and chronic pain and provide new directions for effective interdisciplinary pain treatment.

Key words

Smoking
cigarettes
chronic pain
coping

Cited by (0)

This work was supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Portland VA Medical Center. This study was funded by grant K23DA023467 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, awarded to Dr. Morasco. Dr. Turk has received research support from Endo, Johnson & Johnson, Philips Respironics, and the National Institutes of Health, and consulting fees from Eli Lilly, Empi, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Philips Respironics, and SK LifeScience.

Dr. Turk is a Special Government Employee of the US Food and Drug Administration. No other author reports having any potential conflict of interest with this study. Dr. Patterson is now affiliated with the National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2). The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the National Institutes of Health.