Back to the Future: Opioid Abuse Risk Assessment Strategies

Recent clinical guidelines and professional society position papers for opioid prescribing recommend that, prior to initiating opioid therapy in selected candidates, providers should screen patients to identify those at risk for developing an opioid use disorder, and that patients maintained on opioids long term should be routinely monitored for the development of aberrant drug related behaviors suggestive of abuse.

Dr. Martin Cheatle, Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, discusses the importance of risk stratification.