title: Interpretation of urine drug testing in pain patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Traditionally, urine drug screens have only been concerned with positive or negative results. Those results provide physicians treating patients for pain with chronic opioid therapy with information about medication compliance, use of nonprescribed medications, and use of illicit drugs. However, the analysis of urine for drugs offers additional information that, when compiled and accurately interpreted, may also be of great value to these doctors.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this article was to discuss the interpretation of urine drug tests and their application to pain physician practices.
  
  
  METHODS
  We utilized a selection of recent articles on urine drug screening applicable to the pain patient population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The article provides pertinent information about interpretation of urine drug testing, which is separated into six categories: which drugs and metabolites to test for; which analytical cutoffs to use; pain medication metabolism; identification of alcohol use; determination of patient compliance; and which patient groups to consider for more frequent testing.
authors.affiliation: Millennium Research Institute, San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Amadeo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pesce
authors.forename: Cameron
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Egan City
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Strickland
mesh_terms: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000652:urine*; D010146:Pain / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000652:urine*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D016482:Urinalysis / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid