Cancer patients experienced a fivefold decline in opioid dose prescriptions between 2016 and 2021, according to a study published March 26 in JCO Oncology Practice.
For the study, researchers from Houston-based University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center conducted a retrospective analysis of data from 375 adult cancer patients who had undergone treatment at the cancer center’s outpatient palliative care clinic.
Here are five things to know from the analysis:
- Prescribed opioid doses were expressed as a morphine-equivalent daily dose in milligrams per day.
- Between 2016 and 2021, the median opioid dose decreased from 37.5 mg per day to 7.5 mg per day.
- The proportion of cancer patients who were prescribed a long-acting opioid decreased from 26% to 12%.
The proportion of cancer patients who were not prescribed opioids increased from 28% to 41%. - A patients’ CAGE-AID score, used to screen for potential substance abuse, and their reported pain level on the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale were associated with being prescribed a higher opioid dose.
Non-English language-speaking cancer patients were prescribed lower opioid doses. - The results raise “concerns for undertreatment of pain in patients with cancer,” the study authors wrote.
Read the full study here.
