Objective

The management of chronic non-cancer pain with opioid analgesics has been important for the control of symptoms and the restoration of activity, however, the risk of addiction associated with these drugs is widely known. This study evaluates the risk of addiction presented by patients with tramadol treatment, describing the most frequent factors in the sample studied compared to what was reported in the literature.

Methods

A sample of 76 patients from a pain clinic who are being managed with tramadol are administered a questionnaire with demographic characteristics and with the Opioid Risk Tool scale for the risk of addiction.

Results

57.89% of the subjects were women, 55.20% were affected between 29 and 59 years. A moderate risk of addiction was found in 9.09% of women and 37.05% of men. The inclusion of other diseases such as anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder increases the risk of addiction to severe in 6.06% of men.

Conclusions

The assessment of the risk of addiction to opioids must consider the factors found in the Colombian population.