Background: prescription opioid use is on the rise. There has been an increasing recognition that chronic opioid consumption can result in esophageal motility disorders, and this association has been named opioid-induced esophageal dysfunction (OIED).
Aims: to analyze the prevalence of chronic opioid consumption in patients referred for esophageal motility testing in a European center; to describe the clinical characteristics and the association of opioid consumption with esophageal motility disorders.
Methods: a retrospective, descriptive study in patients who had undergone an HRM in a single center. The clinical history in the electronic medical records was reviewed.
Results: the prevalence of opioid prescription in patients referred to our institution was 10.1 %, and 4.8 % of them were chronic active opioid users. There was a 32 % prevalence of OIED. Comparing chronic active opioid users (CAOU) with OIED and CAOU patients without OIED, there was a higher prevalence of males (43.8 % vs 8.8 %; p-value = 0.007). Converting the different opioid medications to morphine milligram equivalent daily dose (MMED), CAOU patients with OIED had a higher MMED than CAOU patients without OIED (125.2 ± 31.3 vs 33.4 ± 5.7 MME; p = 0.041). Dysphagia was the most common indication for performing an HRM in 60.0 % of CAOU patients. Furthermore, dysphagia was more frequent in CAOU patients with OIED (87.5 % vs 47.0 %; p = 0.019).
Conclusions: chronic opioid users with OIED complained mostly of dysphagia. There was an association of male sex and a higher dose of opioids in CAOU patients with esophageal motility disorders.