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Can prescribers avoid contributing to opioid use disorder? Therapeutics Initiative (University of British Columbia)

Description

Therapeutics Letter 125 explores ways for prescribers to avoid contributing to opioid use disorder. Conclusions: Unsafe opioid prescribing (including for codeine and tramadol) can increase the prevalence of OUD in people with pain. Anticipating and preventing this could reduce premature deaths and serious morbidity. To avoid engendering OUD, prescribers should adopt universal precautions for opioid-naïve patients and communicate important new evidence: Long-term opioid therapy is unlikely to benefit most people with chronic non-cancer pain. There is no valid tool, nor validated way to identify patients at low risk for OUD when starting opioids. Reserve opioids for severe acute non-cancer pain – at low doses for short courses.

Item Metadata

Title
Can prescribers avoid contributing to opioid use disorder?
Alternate Title
Therapeutics Letter 125
Creator
Therapeutics Initiative (University of British Columbia)
Date Issued
2020-02
Description
Therapeutics Letter 125 explores ways for prescribers to avoid contributing to opioid use disorder. Conclusions: Unsafe opioid prescribing (including for codeine and tramadol) can increase the prevalence of OUD in people with pain. Anticipating and preventing this could reduce premature deaths and serious morbidity. To avoid engendering OUD, prescribers should adopt universal precautions for opioid-naïve patients and communicate important new evidence: Long-term opioid therapy is unlikely to benefit most people with chronic non-cancer pain. There is no valid tool, nor validated way to identify patients at low risk for OUD when starting opioids. Reserve opioids for severe acute non-cancer pain – at low doses for short courses.
Subject
Analgesics, Opioid; Chronic Pain; Codeine; Morbidity; Opioid-Related Disorders; Tramadol
Genre
Other
Type
Text
Language
eng
Notes
The UBC TI is funded by the BC Ministry of Health to provide evidence-based information about drug therapy. We neither formulate nor adjudicate provincial drug policies.
Date Available
2023-06-20
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0433704
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/85114
Affiliation
Medicine, Faculty of; Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Department of
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Researcher
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International