BACKGROUND Therapeutic use and abuse of prescription opioids in the United States increased substantially between 1990 and 2010. The Centers for Disease Control estimated deaths related to pharmaceutical opioids reached nearly 19,000 in 2014. Of prescription opioids sold, 10% are extended release (ER) and 90% immediate release (IR). However, most regulations and interventions have focused on de...

INTRODUCTION Currently, it is common practice in the emergency department (ED) for pain relief in hip-fracture patients to administer pain medication, commonly systemic opioids. However, with these pain medications come a high risk of side effects, especially in elderly patients. This study investigated the safety profile and success rate of fascia iliaca compartment block (FICB) in a busy ED. ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of the use of benzodiazepines on prescription of opioids 4-7 years later in patients with noncancer pain. DESIGN A cohort of 7,991 men and 9,083 women aged 40, 45 and 60 years who reported no use of opioids in health surveys in 2000-2001 was linked to the nationwide Norwegian Prescription Database, and their prescriptions of opioids during 2004-2007 were analy...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the safety of benzodiazepines and opioids in patients with very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). DESIGN Population based longitudinal consecutive cohort study. SETTING Centres prescribing long term oxygen therapy in Sweden. PATIENTS 2249 patients starting long term oxygen therapy for COPD in Sweden between 2005 and 2009 in the national Swedevox Re...

BACKGROUND The use of chronic opioids for patients with chronic nonmalignant pain (CNMP) is a common problem for family physicians, yet little is known about the management of CNMP in family medicine offices. METHODS Twenty one physicians at 8 practices of the Cincinnati Area Research Group (CARinG) network completed 25 to 30 modified Primary Care Network Survey 2 surveys. Each survey contain...

The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for the treatment of cancer pain recommend nonopioid analgesics as first-line therapy, so-called "weak" analgesics combined with nonopioid analgesics as second-line therapy, and so-called "strong" opioids (with nonopioid analgesics) only as third-line therapy. However, these guidelines can be questioned with regard to the extent of efficacy as well...

Numerous case reports, uncontrolled studies, and small randomized placebo-controlled trials have investigated the role of aerosolized opioids in the treatment of both dyspnea and pain. Recently, aerosolized furosemide was studied for the treatment of dyspnea. A direct effect on either pulmonary stretch receptors or irritant receptors has been proposed to explain the apparent effectiveness of th...

BACKGROUND Opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) has a positive impact on substance use and health outcomes among HIV-infected opioid dependent patients. The present study investigates non-medical use of opioids by HIV-infected opioid-dependent individuals treated with buprenorphine or methadone. METHODS The MANIF 2000 study is a longitudinal study that enrolled a cohort of 476 HIV-infected opio...

BACKGROUND While opioid use confers a known risk for respiratory depression, the incremental risk of in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest, respiratory arrest, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPRA) has not been studied. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence, outcomes, and risk profile of in-hospital CPRA for patients receiving opioids and medications with central nervous system sedating side...

BACKGROUND Opioid abuse has continued to increase at an alarming rate since the 1990 s. As documented by different medical specialties, medical boards, advocacy groups, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, available evidence suggests a wide variance in chronic opioid therapy of 90 days or longer in chronic non-cancer pain. Part 1 describes evidence assessment. OBJECTIVES The objectives of...