A retrospective surgical cohort found different associations for different preoperative questionnaires. A medication-use outcome was not a direct measure of surgical success or addiction.
The measured relationships
The Brief Resilience Scale had only a weak association with lower postoperative benzodiazepine use. The Pain Disability Index was more strongly associated with later opioid and benzodiazepine use.
Some conventional pain scores did not correlate with the studied postoperative measures. Different questionnaires therefore captured different dimensions rather than interchangeable versions of one risk score.
Association is not a prescribing instruction
Baseline disability, illness, anxiety, clinician preference, and earlier medication exposure can influence later use. The observational design did not establish that changing a questionnaire score would change prescribing.
Medication use alone cannot identify benefit, dependence, or misuse. The paper supports considering function and context beyond pain intensity, but cannot predict an individual’s need with certainty. In a forensic assessment, retain the original scale, actual administration history, reason for treatment, and observed postoperative course rather than interpreting a high score as proof of future benzodiazepine harm.
Source paper
Original analysis of the supplied journal article, identified as PMC9234850.
Leave a Reply