For Kids With Sickle Cell Disease Prescribed Opioids, No Patterns of Misuse Emerged
No patterns of long-term or increasing use of opioids were identified within 3 years among opioid-naive children with sickle cell disease (SCD) who were prescribed the drugs for an acute pain episode, according to a retrospective cohort study. In the cohort of 725 children, mean days’ supply of opioids over 3 years was 30, despite […]
Opinion | Proposed Methadone Treatment Legislation May Put Patients at Risk
Isherwood is an addiction specialist and medical director of an opioid treatment program. Overdoses in the U.S. due to opioids are hitting devastating new levels as high-potency synthetic opioids like fentanyl and metonitazene rack the nation. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder is a life-saving intervention with unmatched success in patient outcomes. This typically […]
Opioids Most Common Substance in Young Children’s Fatal Poisonings
Opioids were the most common substance contributing to fatal poisonings among children age 5 years and younger in recent years, researchers reported. Examination of 731 poisoning-related fatalities from 2005 to 2018 in young kids reported to the National Fatality Review-Case Reporting System (NFR-CRS), showed that opioids were involved in 346 of the fatal cases (47.3%). […]
Fewer Emergency Department Visits End With Opioid Prescriptions
Fewer emergency department (ED) visits end with a prescription for opioids, CDC survey data showed. The percentage of ED visits with an opioid prescribed at discharge fell from 12.2% in 2017-2018 to 8.1% in 2019-2020, reported Loredana Santo, MD, MPH, and Susan Schappert, MA, of the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, in […]
How Well Do Opioids Stack Up for Musculoskeletal Pain in the ED?
For musculoskeletal pain in the emergency department (ED), opioids weren’t clearly better than other analgesics across studies in a systematic review and meta-analysis. When evaluated at a median of around 2 hours of follow-up, opioids were not statistically or clinically more effective against pain than nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs; mean difference [MD] -0.1 on a […]
Bump in Non-Opioid Pain Prescriptions Following CDC’s 2016 Guidelines
Non-opioid pain medication prescribing increased after the CDC published guidelines on opioids for chronic pain in 2016, according to a cohort study using insurance claims data. Among over 15 million individuals, logistic regression models showed that the odds of non-opioid pain prescriptions were higher following the release of the “Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic […]
‘Concerning’ Opioid Prescribing in Patients With Cirrhosis
Nearly one in five patients with cirrhosis were prescribed opioids during outpatient visits, more often than not by a primary care physician (PCP), according to a national analysis of over 10 million ambulatory visits. From 2006 to 2016, 17% of all outpatient visits for patients with cirrhosis resulted in an opioid prescription, usually a refill, […]
Naloxone Rebound Akathisia: It Could Turn on You
Overdose deaths involving opioids, including prescription opioids, heroin, and synthetic opioids (like fentanyl), have increased over six times since 1999 and have soared nearly 30% in 2020. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the nation was struggling with escalating drug overdose deaths. Now, there are some who are convinced that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to further […]