Title Allostatic dysregulation of natural reward processing in prescription opioid misuse: autonomic and attentional evidence.
Author Garland, Eric L; Froeliger, Brett; Howard, Matthew O
Journal Biol Psychol Publication Year/Month 2015-Feb
PMID 25603284 PMCID PMC4336801
Affiliation + expend 1.University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States. Electronic address: eric.garland@socwk.utah.edu.

Chronic pain patients who misuse prescription opioids may suffer from allostatic dysregulation of natural reward processing. Hence, this study examined whether prescription opioid misusers with chronic pain (n=72) evidenced decreased natural reward responsiveness relative to non-misusers with chronic pain (n=26). Subjects completed a dot probe task containing pain-related, opioid-related, and natural reward stimuli while attentional bias (AB) scores and heart rate variability (HRV) responses were assessed. Compared to non-misusers, misusers evidenced significantly more attenuated HRV responses to opioid, pain, and natural reward cues presented during the dot probe task. These significant between-groups differences in HRV were largest during attention to natural reward cues, but became non-significant in a sensitivity analysis controlling for opioid dosing. In addition, non-misusers evidenced an AB toward natural reward cues, whereas misusers did not. Findings suggest that opioid misusers exhibit attentional and autonomic deficits during reward processing.

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