How Effective Is Long-term Opioid Therapy for Chronic Noncancer Pain?

A period of immobility after remifentanil administration protects from nausea: an experimental randomized cross-over study

Background

The opioid remifentanil induces a decrease of vestibulo-ocular reflex function, which has been associated with nausea and vomiting when the subjects are moved. The study investigates in healthy female volunteers if immobility after remifentanil administration protects from nausea and vomiting.

Methods

In volunteers, a standardized movement intervention (a manually applied head-trunk movement forward, backward and sideward) was started 5 min (session A), 35 min (session B) or 60 min (session C) after cessation of a remifentanil infusion (0.15 μg · kg⁻¹ · min⁻¹). In a cross-over design, 16 participants were randomized to the early (sessions A and B) or the late intervention group (sessions A and C). Nausea was assessed using a 11-point numerical rating scale before and after each movement intervention. Differences within and between groups were assessed with non-parametric tests for paired and unpaired data.

Results

Comparing sessions A, B and C, intensity of nausea was time-dependent after cessation of remifentanil administration (p = 0.015). In the early intervention group, nausea decreased from median 5.0 [IQR 1.5;6.0] in session A to 2.0 [1.0;3.0] in session B (p = 0.094); in the late intervention group nausea decreased from 3.5 [2.0;5.0] in session A to 0.5 [0.0;2.0] in session C (p = 0.031).

Conclusions

In summary, in young healthy women, immobility after remifentanil administration protects from nausea and vomiting in a time-dependent manner. In analogy to motion sickness, opioid-induced nausea and vomiting in female volunteers can be triggered by movement.

Trial registration

German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00010667. The trial was registered retrospectively on June, 20th 2016.

Medical and psychological risks and consequences of long-term opioid therapy in women

BACKGROUND

Long-term opioid use has increased substantially over the past decade for U.S. women. Women are more likely than men to have a chronic pain condition, to be treated with opioids, and may receive higher doses. Prescribing trends persist despite limited evidence to support the long-term benefit of this pain treatment approach.

PURPOSE

To review the medical and psychological risks and consequences of long-term opioid therapy in women.

METHOD

Scientific literature containing relevant keywords and content were reviewed.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Long-term opioid use exposes women to unique risks, including endocrinopathy, reduced fertility, neonatal risks, as well as greater risk for polypharmacy, cardiac risks, poisoning and unintentional overdose, among other risks. Risks for women appear to vary by age and psychosocial factors may be bidirectionally related to opioid use. Gaps in understanding and priorities for future research are highlighted.

Cost-effectiveness of tapentadol in severe chronic pain in Spain: a cost analysis of data from RCTs

BACKGROUND

Chronic pain is known to be a significant and common health problem. Tapentadol, a recently developed centrally active, oral analgesic agent is used to treat adults with severe chronic pain that can be adequately managed only with opioid analgesics. Tapentadol has been reported to provide an improved adverse-events (AE) profile compared with other potent opioid analgesics at similar levels of analgesia.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of tapentadol to that of opioids commonly used as first-line treatment of severe, chronic, nonmalignant pain from the perspective of the health care payer in Spain.

METHODS

A Markov state-transition model was developed to compare the cost-effectiveness of first-line treatment with tapentadol to that of oxycodone, morphine, and transdermal fentanyl (TDF) over a 1-year time horizon. Four health states were defined: (1) treatment discontinuation due to a severe AE; (2) treatment discontinuation due to a lack of efficacy; (3) occurrence of an AE that required medical treatment; and (4) no discontinuation and no AE. If a patient discontinued a treatment, he or she was switched to an alternative, second-line opioid. Data regarding efficacy, tolerability, and utility values (EQ-5D) were derived from randomized clinical trials. Clinical experts estimated the rates of switching to other opioids and the health care resource utilization associated with the treatment of severe chronic pain. Unit costs were derived from public price lists/tariff works and were calculated from the perspective of the National Spanish Health System. The robustness of the model results was tested in extensive sensitivity analyses in which event probabilities, costs, utilities, and treatment-switching rates were altered.

RESULTS

Data from 3 studies (1981 patients) were included in the model. Overall, the model predicted that initiating first-line treatment with tapentadol in patients with severe, chronic, nonmalignant pain was associated with lower costs and greater efficacy versus first-line treatment with oxycodone. Compared with morphine and TDF, tapentadol yielded incremental cost-effectiveness ratios of €2656 and €2069 per quality-adjusted life-year gained, respectively. On extensive 1-way and scenario analyses, findings on the cost-effectiveness of tapentadol were consistent. The probability that tapentadol would be cost-effective compared with each comparator at the willingness-to-pay threshold of €20,000 to €30,000/QALY gained exceeded 90%.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the findings from the present model, tapentadol is likely to be a cost-effective first-line treatment in patients with severe, chronic, nonmalignant pain in Spain according to the commonly accepted willingness-to-pay thresholds. Compared with morphine and TDF, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were low; compared with oxycodone, tapentadol dominated, showing better quality-of-life outcomes at lower costs.

Treatment profiles and costs of patients with chronic pain in the population setting

Background

The purpose of this study was to gather information about analgesic drug therapy in patients with chronic pain and perform cost estimates to guide future cost-effectiveness research in the area.

Methods

Data from patients aged 44 years and over suffering from any chronic condition and receiving regular analgesic drug therapy (for ≥6 months) who attended health care facilities within the area of Badalona during 2008 were collected in a retrospective study. Morbidity profiles were defined according to treatment setting (pain unit, hospital), World Health Organization analgesic step (1–2 versus 3), and a raw cost model based on resource use and work absenteeism was applied. Patients attending the pain unit or the hospital were considered undertreated if they were on step 1–2 analgesics. Multiple regression was used to compare costs between undertreated and non-undertreated patients among those attending the pain unit or the hospital.

Results

Only 410 of 18,157 patients ascertained (2.3%) were on step 3 analgesics. Their direct costs were greater than those of patients on step 1–2 analgesics, although the opposite was true regarding indirect costs. Of patients seen in the pain unit and in the hospital, 2.3% and 20.1%, respectively, were considered undertreated. Regression analyses revealed even greater costs in the subgroup of undertreated patients.

Conclusion

Step 3 analgesics are barely used. Up to one-fifth of patients may be undertreated, generating greater costs than those considered to be properly treated. Regression analyses did not clarify the proportion of their cost excess that was attributable to undertreatment.

Cost-effectiveness of tapentadol prolonged release compared with oxycodone controlled release in the UK in patients with severe non-malignant chronic pain who failed 1st line treatment with morphine

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this analysis was to assess the cost-effectiveness of tapentadol PR (prolonged release) compared with oxycodone CR (controlled release) in severe non-malignant chronic pain patients in whom controlled release morphine was ineffective or not tolerated.

METHODS

A Markov model was developed to assess costs and benefits over a 1-year time horizon from the National Health Service perspective in the UK. Patients could either continue on 2nd line therapy or switch to 3rd line opioid due to lack of efficacy or poor tolerability. Patients failing also 3rd line therapy entered the final absorbing health state (4th line). Data on tolerability, efficacy, and utilities for tapentadol and oxycodone were obtained from the three comparative phase III clinical trials. Costs of resource consumption associated with opioid treatment were derived from a retrospective database analysis of anonymized patient records.

RESULTS

The model results predicted that initiating 2nd line therapy with tapentadol leads to higher effectiveness and lower costs vs oxycodone. For the overall population included in the clinical trials, mean annual costs per patient when treated with tapentadol and oxycodone were £3543 and £3656, respectively. Treatment with tapentadol, while cheaper than oxycodone, was more effective (0.6371 vs 0.6237 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for tapentadol and oxycodone, respectively), meaning that tapentadol dominated oxycodone. For the sub-group of opioid-experienced patients with severe pain at baseline the ranking in terms of costs and QALYs remained unchanged. Extensive sensitivity analyses showed that conclusions about the cost-effectiveness are consistent.

CONCLUSIONS

The cost-effectiveness study suggested that initiating 2nd line treatment in patients with severe non-malignant chronic pain in the UK with tapentadol instead of oxycodone improves patients' quality-of-life and is less costly. Key limitations when interpreting the results are the use of different sources to populate the model and restricted generalizability due to data extrapolation.

Postoperative pain trajectories in chronic pain patients undergoing surgery: the effects of chronic opioid pharmacotherapy on acute pain

For 2 weeks following surgery, 55 patients with preexisting chronic pain (CP) reported daily postoperative pain with movement and at rest. Of these, 30 CP patients used opioid pharmacotherapy for CP management and 25 did not. We modeled pain resolution in each patient using a linear fit so that each patient yielded 2 scores for each pain rating: 1) an intercept, or initial level of pain, immediately after surgery; and 2) a slope, or rate of pain resolution. The patients not using opioid pharmacotherapy had a mean pain with movement intercept of 5.4 and a slope of -.20, while the patients using opioid pharmacotherapy had a significantly higher mean intercept of 7.68 (P = .001) and a slope of -.21, sustaining higher pain levels over days. The opioid pharmacotherapy patients had the same rate of pain resolution as the other CP patients, and both groups resolved their pain more slowly than normal surgery patients. Preexisting CP may predispose a patient undergoing surgery to a slower rate of postoperative pain resolution. Chronic pain patients who use opioids share this predisposition but in addition, they are at risk for markedly higher postoperative pain across the entire pain resolution trajectory.

PERSPECTIVE

This is an observational rather than a randomized controlled study, and as such is less definitive. Nonetheless, these findings are consistent with those of animal studies showing that prolonged exposure to opioids can produce opioid-induced hyperalgesia. Patients with opioid pharmacotherapy for chronic pain who undergo surgery merit special attention for acute pain management.

Pharmacoeconomic impact of adverse events of long-term opioid treatment for the management of persistent pain

Opioids are the most powerful analgesic drugs currently available and consequently form an essential part of the treatment options for malignant and non-malignant chronic pain. However, the benefits of these medications can be offset by gastrointestinal adverse events such as nausea, vomiting and constipation, as well as adverse events affecting the CNS. These occur relatively frequently in patients receiving long-term opioids for pain relief and are a cause of additional patient suffering and reduced work and social functioning, measured as reductions in quality-of-life outcomes. Consequently, adverse events are often the cause of treatment non-compliance or discontinuation (non-persistence). A literature search was conducted using BIOSIS Previews, EMBASE, Cochrane Collaboration and MEDLINE databases to identify references with specific relevance to the measurement of health outcomes related to adverse events of long-term opioid treatment of chronic pain. The results of this search highlighted that clinical interventions required to manage adverse events associated with opioids, and to provide alternative methods of pain control, both incur direct costs. These are largely driven by the cost of medical consults and drug supplies. Indirect costs are generated from work absences and reduced social functioning. Estimated preference ratings, providing an insight into the trade-off between effective pain control and adverse events, have shown that utility decrements associated with an increase in adverse-event severity were similar in size to those caused by a shift from well controlled to poorly controlled pain. Given the rising prevalence of chronic pain conditions (affecting one in five adult Europeans), the direct and indirect costs incurred from the management of adverse events with long-term opioids are likely to be multiplied, contributing to the socioeconomic burden of chronic pain. For this reason, the adverse-event profile of opioid-based analgesics should be improved to achieve more efficient long-term pain control.

Pharmacoeconomic impact of adverse events of long-term opioid treatment for the management of persistent pain

Opioids are the most powerful analgesic drugs currently available and consequently form an essential part of the treatment options for malignant and non-malignant chronic pain. However, the benefits of these medications can be offset by gastrointestinal adverse events such as nausea, vomiting and constipation, as well as adverse events affecting the CNS. These occur relatively frequently in patients receiving long-term opioids for pain relief and are a cause of additional patient suffering and reduced work and social functioning, measured as reductions in quality-of-life outcomes. Consequently, adverse events are often the cause of treatment non-compliance or discontinuation (non-persistence). A literature search was conducted using BIOSIS Previews, EMBASE, Cochrane Collaboration and MEDLINE databases to identify references with specific relevance to the measurement of health outcomes related to adverse events of long-term opioid treatment of chronic pain. The results of this search highlighted that clinical interventions required to manage adverse events associated with opioids, and to provide alternative methods of pain control, both incur direct costs. These are largely driven by the cost of medical consults and drug supplies. Indirect costs are generated from work absences and reduced social functioning. Estimated preference ratings, providing an insight into the trade-off between effective pain control and adverse events, have shown that utility decrements associated with an increase in adverse-event severity were similar in size to those caused by a shift from well controlled to poorly controlled pain. Given the rising prevalence of chronic pain conditions (affecting one in five adult Europeans), the direct and indirect costs incurred from the management of adverse events with long-term opioids are likely to be multiplied, contributing to the socioeconomic burden of chronic pain. For this reason, the adverse-event profile of opioid-based analgesics should be improved to achieve more efficient long-term pain control.

Pilot study of a preliminary criterion standard for prescription opioid misuse

Multidisciplinary experts created a behaviorally defined preliminary criterion standard definition of probable prescription opioid misuse (PPOM) that could be rated from material found in administrative, pharmacy, and electronic health record databases. They then derived a scoring system to identify PPOM patients requiring referral to a specialist. Experts next rated cases of misuse and nonmisuse. Rater no. 1 correctly differentiated 37 of 40 cases (92.5%); kappa coefficient was .79 (CI: .57, 1.00). Rater no. 2 correctly identified 39 of 40 cases (97.5%); kappa was .94 (CI: .81, 1.00). Kappa for comparing raters was .73 (CI: .49, .98). This preliminary study demonstrates that multidisciplinary raters can use behaviorally based criteria to identify patients with known PPOM from health plan databases.

Opioid pharmacotherapy for chronic non-cancer pain in the United States: a research guideline for developing an evidence-base

This document reports the consensus of an interdisciplinary panel of research and clinical experts charged with reviewing the use of opioids for chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) and formulating guidelines for future research. Prescribing opioids for chronic noncancer pain has recently escalated in the United States. Contrasting with increasing opioid use are: 1) The lack of evidence supporting long-term effectiveness; 2) Escalating misuse of prescription opioids including abuse and diversion; and 3) Uncertainty about the incidence and clinical salience of multiple, poorly characterized adverse drug events (ADEs) including endocrine dysfunction, immunosuppression and infectious disease, opioid-induced hyperalgesia and xerostomia, overdose, falls and fractures, and psychosocial complications. Chief among the limitations of current evidence are: 1) Sparse evidence on long-term opioid effectiveness in chronic pain patients due to the short-term time frame of clinical trials; 2) Insufficiently comprehensive outcome assessment; and 3) Incomplete identification and quantification of ADEs. The panel called for a strategic interdisciplinary approach to the problem domain in which basic scientists and clinicians cooperate to resolve urgent issues and generate a comprehensive evidence base. It offered 4 recommendations in 3 areas: 1) A research strategy for studying the effectiveness of long-term opioid pharmacotherapy; 2) Improvements in evidence-generation methodology; and 3) Potential research topics for generating new evidence.

PERSPECTIVE

Prescribing opioids for CNCP has outpaced the growth of scientific evidence bearing on the benefits and harms of these interventions. The need for a strong evidence base is urgent. This guideline offers a strategic approach to creating a comprehensive evidence base to guide safe and effective management of CNCP.

Continuous opioid treatment for chronic noncancer pain: a time for moderation in prescribing

Physicians have embraced the concept of long-term opioid treatment for chronic noncancer pain (CNCP), as evidenced by increased prescribing. Many patients have benefited from more liberal opioid prescribing, but many have not, and prescription opioid abuse has risen significantly coincident with increased prescribing. Because of the potentially serious adverse effects of opioids, physicians must balance potential benefits against risks, especially in individuals at risk for opioid misuse, abuse, or dependence. This article reviews long-term, continuous opioid treatment of CNCP, current treatment guidelines, addiction risk stratification, opioid-induced hyperalgesia, and endocrine dysfunction.

Predicting opioid misuse by chronic pain patients: a systematic review and literature synthesis

BACKGROUND

Opioids can provide relief for people with chronic pain. However, a minority may develop aberrant drug behaviors. A critical issue is identifying "at-risk" patients.

OBJECTIVE

To synthesize the evidence of published strategies for identifying at-risk patients to guide clinicians' decisions and practices for prescribing opioid treatment for chronic pain patients (CPP).

DATA SOURCES

MEDLINE database search from 1966 to March 20, 2007, searching the bibliographies from all retrieved articles, and articles available in the authors' files. Studies were limited to human studies in the English language related to screening for predictors of aberrant drug behaviors in CPP who were prescribed long-term opioids. We included studies reviewing, developing measures, or investigating outcomes related to screening for aberrant opioid behaviors in CPP.

RESULTS

We identified 6 published articles addressing clinician-based predictors of substance misuse of opioids and 9 published studies evaluating the predictive ability of clinical interviews and self-report measures for aberrant opioid behaviors in CPP. Several attempts have been made to develop procedures to identify at-risk patients including urine toxicology screening, structured interviews, observation, and self-report questionnaires. In general, the psychometric properties of the published questionnaires and interview protocols are weak; moreover, the samples included in the studies are often small and unrepresentative. Thus, none of them can be recommended for use with any confidence.

CONCLUSION

Review of the published studies reveals that no one procedure or set of predictor variables is sufficient to identify CPP at-risk for opioid misuse or abuse. There is a scarcity of evidence regarding characteristics that predict aberrant behavior before beginning long-term opioids. Several predictors have been identified. Strong predictors include a personal history of illicit drug and alcohol abuse. Demographic factors have also been reported, but the results are not consistent. Prospective studies, especially ones with CPP who have not already been started on chronic opioid therapy, are needed.