Predictors of opioid overdose after prescription for chronic pain

A big examine printed in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) has recognized 10 predictors of opioid overdose after prescription for continual ache, which may help clinicians have interaction in shared decision-making with sufferers round opioid prescribing.

“The opioid crisis has generated curiosity in figuring out sufferers at increased danger of dependancy or overdose and has led to the event of a number of screening instruments; nonetheless, these devices have both not been validated or proven poor psychometric properties,” writes Dr. Li Wang, a researcher and methodologist on the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Ache Analysis and Care, and Division of Anesthesia, McMaster College, Hamilton, Ontario, with co-authors.

“Our findings recommend that consciousness of, and a spotlight to, a number of affected person and prescription traits, might assist cut back the danger of opioid overdose amongst individuals dwelling with continual ache.”

Researchers checked out 28 research that included virtually 24 million sufferers in the US, Canada and the UK who had been prescribed opioids for non-cancer and cancer-related continual ache. The danger of deadly and nonfatal opioid overdose after prescription elevated two- to six-fold with high-dose opioids, fentanyl prescription, a number of opioid prescribers or pharmacies, historical past of overdose, present substance use dysfunction, despair, bipolar dysfunction, different psychological sickness or pancreatitis.

“Our findings ought to show useful for conveying dangers of overdose to sufferers when deciding whether or not to provoke a trial of opioids for chronic pain, and can facilitate evidence-based, shared decision-making,” write the authors.