BACKGROUND Opioids can contribute to postoperative desaturation. Short-acting opioids, titrated to need, may cause less desaturation than longer-acting opioids. We thus tested the primary hypothesis that long-acting patient-controlled intravenous opioids are associated with more hypoxemia (defined as an integrated area under a postoperative oxyhemoglobin saturation of 95%) than short-acting opi...

BACKGROUND In April 2014, a tamper-resistant controlled-release oxycodone formulation was introduced into the Australian market. This study aimed to identify the level and methods of tampering with reformulated oxycodone, demographic and clinical characteristics of those who reported tampering with reformulated oxycodone, and perceived attractiveness of original and reformulated oxycodone for m...

BACKGROUND Chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) is a major health problem, for which opioids provide one treatment option. However, evidence is needed about side effects, efficacy, and risk of misuse or addiction. METHODS This meta-analysis was carried out with these objectives: to compare the efficacy of opioids for CNCP with other drugs and placebo; to identify types of CNCP that respond better to...

Opioid abuse has increased in the last decade, primarily as a result of increased access to prescription opioids. Physicians are also increasingly administering opioid analgesics for noncancer chronic pain. Thus, knowledge of the long-term consequences of opioid use/abuse has important implications for fully evaluating the clinical usefulness of opioid medications. Many studies have examined th...

Objective To assess prevalence rates and correlates of problematic use of prescription opioids and medicinal cannabis (MC) among patients receiving treatment for chronic pain. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Two leading pain clinics in Israel. Subjects Our sample included 888 individuals receiving treatment for chronic pain, of whom 99.4% received treatment with prescription opioids...

BACKGROUND Obtaining analgesic narcotics from multiple prescribers is sometimes called 'doctor-shopping,' implying abuse. If the use of multiple prescribers can be used as an indicator for abuse, it would be a convenient way to study abuse in large populations. OBJECTIVE To assess multiple prescribers as an indicator of abuse by relating quantity of opioids obtained by older Norwegians to num...

BACKGROUND A recent national practice guideline recommends the use of opioids for the treatment of refractory dyspnea in patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We conducted two qualitative studies to explore the experiences of patients and family caregivers with opioids for refractory COPD-related dyspnea and the perspectives and attitudes of physicians toward opio...

Role of Opioids: Historically opioids are most commonly administered analgesia for postoperative CS pain management. They are used both systemically and neuraxially for postoperative analgesia. Systemic administration is mostly used after general anaesthesia and in places where there is unavailability of long acting preservative free opioids or lack of expertise in its usage. Systemic routes fo...