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An article published in the Annals of Family Medicine journal states that painkillers may not address all aspects of pain, and may add to dysfunction. In their abstract, pain experts Mark Sullivan and Jane Ballantyne, from the University of Washington School of Medicine, state, "The US opioid...
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A systematic review published in BMJ Open looked at the use of analgesic doses of ketamine to assess its efficacy and safety compared with other analgesic drugs (or no drug) in adult prehospital patients with acute pain. Culling information from clinical trials, the researchers included 8 studies...
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An article in JAMA Network Open asked the question, “Have prescriptions for Schedule II opioids with high abuse potential, vs Schedule IV tramadol (lower abuse potential), decreased in the 18-month periods before and after publication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opioid...
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A team of multidisciplinary healthcare experts and opioid stewardship leaders have provided new opioid guidelines for children and adolescents postsurgery. Their recommendations are published in JAMA Surgery. Lorraine Kelley-Quon, MD, MSHS, a pediatric surgeon, and a diverse team of healthcare...
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An Annals of Internal Medicine online article seeks “To characterize the quality of safety and efficacy data in new drug applications (NDAs) for opioid analgesics approved by the FDA between 1997 and 2018.” Researchers state that “Approvals of prescription opioids by the U.S. Food and Drug...
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Opioids are powerful analgesics, but unfortunately that pain relief may come with side-effects that place a heavy burden on patients. Patients may experience diminished quality of life due to opioid-induced constipation, leading to depression/anxiety, embarrassment, increased cost of healthcare...
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In a guide for team physicians working with young athletes—10 to 18 years old—it is recommended that practitioners look at all factors involved before potentially prescribing opioids to this age group. This Special Communications: Team Physician and Consensus Statement appears in the journal Medicin...
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Opioid use and addiction have soared in the United States over the past 20 years, and drug overdoses have become the leading cause of injury death.
Persons with opioid use disorder (OUD), particularly those injecting opioids, frequently require hospitalization and encounter need of acute opioid...
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A poster abstract (LB008) presented at the American Academy of Pain Medicine 36th Annual Meeting acknowledges the potential of sweat as a biofluid alternative for drug testing. The abstract states that, although used extensively, “sampling of urine is inconvenient, tamper prone, and results are...
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The American Medical Association just released a new OPIOID TASK FORCE 2020 PROGRESS REPORT in the hopes of reducing drug overdoses and deaths. Although prescription opioid overdose deaths have decreased, illicit drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine have risen. Last year, fentanyl...