Attitudes toward and Barriers to Acetaminophen Use in the Chronic Pain Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The use of acetaminophen is recommended in pain management, particularly acute pain management, to reduce opioid utilization and opioid related adverse drug events. Acetaminophen’s role in chronic pain conditions is understudied. This cross-sectional study was performed in a pain management office to explore how chronic pain patients use acetaminophen. The final study sample included 100 patients. Current users of acetaminophen were most likely to report that a doctor had recommended acetaminophen to them (86.4%) compared to ever (66.7%) and never (55.6%) users (p < .001). Patients who were recommended taking acetaminophen by a physician were 3.60 times as likely (95% CI 1.58, 8.25) to be a current or ever user of acetaminophen as compared to those who did not receive such a recommendation from their physician. There were no significant differences between current, ever, and never users on their knowledge of the maximum daily dose of acetaminophen of 4 g (p = .925). The study suggests that patients are often unaware of acetaminophen’s role in the treatment of their chronic pain.

Keywords:

• Acetaminophen
• barriers
• attitudes
• safety
• education

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mary Caruso for her help in recruiting participants.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.