Opioid Use and Tobacco Smoking in Patients With Rheumatic Diseases

Rheumatic diseases are chronic diseases, which may be associated with severe and debilitating pain. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of tobacco and opioid use among rheumatic patients. In this cross-sectional study, 1042 patients referred to a major rheumatology clinic of Kerman city, in south east of Iran, were interviewed. Patients were divided into seven groups of disease, including rheumatoid arthritis (330 persons) osteoarthritis (313 persons), systemic lupus erythematosus (149 persons), back pain (146 persons), spondyloarthropathies (62 persons), Behcet’s disease (25 persons), and scleroderma (17 persons). The questionnaire consisted of demographic variables, disease-related variables (e.g. duration of disease), the severity of pain on the VAS scale and use of opioids and tobacco based on self-reporting. The mean age of the patients was 49.3 ± 15.0 years and mean disease duration in the whole sample was 7.1 ± 5.1 years. Opium consumption was reported by 104 persons (9.9%), codeine, by 185 persons (17.7%), cigarette smoking by 49 persons (4.7%) and waterpipe smoking by 34 persons (3.3%). In this study, codeine consumption is the most frequently used substance. The consumption of opium is not much different from the general population. Also, the rate of cigarette and waterpipe smoking was less than that in the general population. The prevalence of opium use and tobacco smoking was higher in men than in women. There was no significant relationship between type of rheumatic diseases, disease-related variables, and substance use.