Weighing In on Opioids for Chronic Pain: The Barriers to Change

It is estimated that approximately 100 million US residents have chronic pain, costing more than $600 billion per year in direct medical treatment and lost productivity costs. In the 1980s, several reports began to support use of opioid therapy for chronic noncancer pain. Over the ensuing decades, a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association Vol. 310; no. 13; pp. 1351 - 1352
Main Author Alford, Daniel P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Medical Association 02.10.2013
Subjects
Analgesics, Opioid - administration & dosage
Chronic Pain - drug therapy
Drug addiction
Drug overdose
Drug therapy
Female
Health care expenditures
Humans
Male
Morphine - administration & dosage
Obesity - surgery
Pain management
United States > US
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Summary:It is estimated that approximately 100 million US residents have chronic pain, costing more than $600 billion per year in direct medical treatment and lost productivity costs. In the 1980s, several reports began to support use of opioid therapy for chronic noncancer pain. Over the ensuing decades, a 4-fold increase in opioid prescribing has occurred, but has been associated with a 4-fold increase in unintentional opioid overdose deaths and a 6-fold increase in substance abuse treatment admissions for prescription opioid addiction. With such severe risks associated with opioid use, decreasing the need for chronic opioid therapy is a worthy clinical goal. Here, Alford examines the effectiveness of opioid therapy for patients with chronic pain.
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ISSN:0098-7484
1538-3598
DOI:10.1001/jama.2013.278587