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In Australia, “Hospitalisations and deaths related to opioid overuse, misuse, or overdose increased by 240% and 180%, respectively, with a corresponding 32-fold increase in yearly public health costs to $271 million AUD within the past 2 decades.” After implementing a single anesthesiologist-led...
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The 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain was controversial; did it change minds? Apparently it did get practitioners to think “nonopioids” more often. An article published in JAMA Network Open presented information based on cohort study...
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If you’re a patient in pain, and your doctor is sleep deprived, you may be underprescribed analgesics. According to researchers publishing their findings in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), practitioner empathy is more than a small part of prescribing. Studying systematic bias...
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The journal of Anesthesiology published a report on the viability of pain management medication development. Using a database and over 1600 data points, researchers analyzed variables to note the probability of “success, duration, and survivorship of pain medication development programs between...
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In a narrative review published in Cureus, researchers examined acute pain, which is normal postsurgery, and its potential transition to chronic pain. Postsurgery rates of persistent/subacute pain (lasting over a month) range from 10% to 50%; chronic pain (lasting more than 3 months) is seen in 2%...
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Can digital therapy that provides lymphatic and limb mobility exercises make a difference in pain for patients postsurgery for breast cancer? A study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research Cancer recruited 120 patients at least 3 months past breast cancer surgery. Half of the group...
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JAMA Neurology reports findings gathered from over 2600 migraine sufferers, aged 18 to 65, from 4 randomized clinical trials. Researchers sought to determine whether erenumab would improve migraine frequency and lessen migraine medication need in those with and without aura. The study notes, “One or...
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The journal of Anesthesiology featured a special article in which a new concept is presented: a prescription opioid ecosystem. The need for this ecosystem stems from the “opioid paradox” that, even though the past 10 years has seen a drop in opioid prescribing of about 38%, deaths from opioids have...
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Does what you eat eventually impact the amount of medications you'll need when you’re older? Researchers investigated diets and medication amounts in 328 participants 60 years or older. Via questionnaires and measurements, the participants recounted what they ate, and the number of pills/medication...
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Results of a focus group brought to light the perspectives of 29 women (mean age 46 years) experiencing urinary tract infections (UTI). The results, reported in the Journal of Urology, identified 7 themes (below) in these categories: 1) the problems with taking antibiotics and 2) resentment towards...