Mediating Effect of Pain Sensitization on the Paradoxical Relation of Taking Opioids to Pain Severity in Knee Osteoarthritis: The Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study

OBJECTIVE: One of the less understood adverse effects while taking opioids is the paradoxical increase in pain, known as opioid-induced hyperalgesia (OIH). We sought to determine whether pain sensitization mediates the relation of taking an opioid to pain severity in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: We included participants in a National Institutes of Health-funded cohort study of people with or at risk of knee OA. Participants …