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. 2023 Jun 26;16(1):78.
doi: 10.1186/s40545-023-00586-5.

Medication use and factors associated with opiate use among patients with diagnosed fibromyalgia from two ethnic sectors in southern Israel

Yulia Treister-Goltzman  1   2 , Roni Peleg  3   4 , Iftach Sagy  5   6   7 , Idan Menashe  8
Affiliations

Medication use and factors associated with opiate use among patients with diagnosed fibromyalgia from two ethnic sectors in southern Israel

Yulia Treister-Goltzman et al. J Pharm Policy Pract. .

Abstract

Background: Our aims were to compare fibromyalgia (FM) rate, drug treatment and factors associated with the use of opiates in two ethnic sectors.

Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study in southern district of Israel was performed on diagnosed FM patients in 2019-2020 [7686 members (1.50%)]. Descriptive analyses were conducted and multivariable models for the use of opiates were developed.

Results: There were significant differences between the two ethnic groups in FM prevalence at 1.63% and 0.91% in the Jewish and Arab groups, respectively. Only 32% of the patients used recommended medications and about 44% purchased opiates. Age, BMI, psychiatric co-morbidity, and treatment with a recommended drug were similarly associated with an increased risk for opiate use in both ethnic groups. However, male gender was associated with × 2 times reduced risk to use opiates only among the Bedouins (aOR = 0.552, 95%CI = 0.333-0.911). In addition, while in both of ethnic groups the existence of another localized pain syndrome was associated with an increased risk for opiates use, this risk was 4 times higher in the Bedouin group (aOR = 8.500, 95%CI = 2.023-59.293 and aOR = 2.079, 95%CI = 1.556-2.814).

Conclusions: The study showed underdiagnosis of FM in the minority Arab ethnicity. Female Arab FM patients in low or high, compared to middle socio-economic status, were a risk group for excess opiate use. Increased use of opiates and very low rate of purchase of recommended drugs point to a lack of effectiveness of these drugs. Future research should assess whether the treatment of treatable factors can reduce the dangerous use of opiates.

Keywords: Analgesics; Drug therapy; Ethnic differences; Fibromyalgia; Opiate use.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Medication use among fibromyalgia patients in southern Israel
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