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Black patients: prescribed opioids less frequently yet undergo more urine drug screenings. The Journal of Clinical Oncology reports on various healthcare disparities affecting older patients at end of life. Findings from over 300,000 decedents >65 years with poor-prognosis cancers include:
- Receiv...
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A study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2022 annual meeting analyzed postsurgery pain in people who used cannabis. According to the analysis of over 34,000 patients who had elective surgery, the 1650 who used cannabis within 30 days presurgery:
- Had 14% more pain during the 24 hours postsurgery ...
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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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An article published in Frontiers in Pain Research examined the effectiveness and safety of medical cannabis (MC) treatment for cancer pain. Over 320 oncology patients initiated MC treatment, with 212, 158, and 126 reporting in at 1, 3, and 6 months, respectively, of follow-up. Overall findings:
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A traumatic injury is defined as one that occurs suddenly, with a degree of severity. If patients are given opioids by emergency medical services (EMS), how does it affect their later pain levels? Researchers, publishing in the Injury journal, identified over 3,800,000 injured patients via data from...
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The Lancet Public Health journal published findings from a study of opioid analgesic consumption in 66 countries and found great disparity. Consumption was measured in milligram morphine equivalent per 1000 inhabitants per day (MME per 1000/day), from 2015 to 2019. Of much concern, “Opioid use in...
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The question posed in an article published in Annals of Internal Medicine: have patients suffering from chronic noncancer pain been affected negatively by state laws curbing opioid prescribing? There have been a few overlapping laws, for prescribing caps, pill mills, enrollment, and mandatory...
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New guidelines for perioperative acute pain treatment in patients undergoing complex surgeries have been established by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and 14 other societies, including American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery...
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Postsurgery, who needs which kind of pain management medication? A study published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery looks at opioid-naïve patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting and/or valve surgery. Of more than 1900 patients, 28% were discharged without a prescription for opioids...