Thoughts, emotions linked to opioid use in SCD

“When pain was reported as low, sickle cell disease patients reported higher opioid use if they catastrophized, or focused their thinking on their pain, than if they didn’t,” Dr Finan said. “When pain levels were higher, negative thinking played less of a role in influencing opioid use.”

Dr Finan cautioned that studies such as this have some weaknesses, including the fact that self-reports are always uncertain, and the study only included 1 time point per day, although a person’s mood may fluctuate throughout the day based on life events and experiences.

For future studies, Dr Finan wants to use smartphone technology that can assess moods randomly throughout the day.

“Once we have a more intensive study to track mood variations throughout the day,” Dr Finan said, “then we can determine when it will be appropriate to send messages through text to intervene and affect patient behavior.”