Comparative Risk of Injury with Concurrent Use of Opioids and Skeletal Muscle Relaxants

Abstract

Concurrent use of skeletal muscle relaxants (SMRs) and opioids has been linked to an increased risk of injury. However, it remains unclear whether the injury risks differ by specific SMR when combined with opioids. We conducted nine retrospective cohort studies within a US Medicaid population. Each cohort consisted exclusively of person‐time exposed to both an SMR and one of the three most dispensed opioids—hydrocodone, oxycodone, and tramadol. Opioid users were further divided into three cohorts based on the initiation order of SMRs and opioids—synchronically triggered, opioid‐triggered, and SMR‐triggered. Within each cohort, we used Cox proportional hazard models to compare the injury rates for different SMRs compared to methocarbamol, adjusting for covariates. We identified 349,543, 139,458, and 218,967 concurrent users of SMRs with hydrocodone, oxycodone, and tramadol, respectively. In the oxycodone‐SMR‐triggered cohort, the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were 1.86 (95% CI, 1.23–2.82) for carisoprodol and 1.73 (1.09–2.73) for tizanidine. In the tramadol‐synchronically triggered cohort, the adjusted HRs were 0.69 (0.49–0.97) for metaxalone and 0.62 (0.42–0.90) for tizanidine. In the tramadol‐SMR‐triggered cohort, the adjusted HRs were 1.51 (1.01–2.26) for baclofen and 1.48 (1.03–2.11) for cyclobenzaprine. All other HRs were statistically nonsignificant. In conclusion, the relative injury rate associated with different SMRs used concurrently with the three most dispensed opioids appears to vary depending on the specific opioid and the order of combination initiation. If confirmed by future studies, clinicians should consider the varying injury rates when prescribing SMRs to individuals using hydrocodone, oxycodone, and tramadol.