Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Pain

Re-thinking the perception of long-term opioid use in RMDs

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 19, pages 678–679 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Emerging data suggest that the frequency of long-term opioid use is high among individuals with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, which is of concern given the risks of opioid misuse. But is long-term opioid use really that high or is the situation more complicated?

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Novella-Navarro, M. et al. Predictive model to identify multiple failure to biological therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Ther. Adv. Musculoskelet. Dis. https://doi.org/10.1177/1759720X221124028 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Waljee, J. F. & Brummett, C. M. Opioid prescribing for low back pain: what is the role of payers? JAMA Netw. Open 1, e180236 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Huang, Y.-T. et al. High frequency of long-term opioid use among patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases initiating opioids for the first time. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 82, 1116–1117 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Shaheed, C. A., McLachlan, A. J. & Maher, C. G. Rethinking “long term” opioid therapy. BMJ 367, l6691 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Johnson, D. G. et al. Prescription quantity and duration predict progression from acute to chronic opioid use in opioid-naïve Medicaid patients. PLOS Digit. Health 1, e0000075 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Heins, S. E., Buttorff, C., Armstrong, C. & Pacula, R. L. Claims-based measures of prescription opioid utilization: A practical guide for researchers. Drug Alcohol Depend. 228, 109087 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Karmali, R. N. et al. Long-term opioid therapy definitions and predictors: A systematic review. Pharmacoepidemiol. Drug Saf. 29, 252–269 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Trouvin, A.-P., Berenbaum, F. & Perrot, S. The opioid epidemic: helping rheumatologists prevent a crisis. RMD Open 5, e001029 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Els, C. et al. Adverse events associated with medium- and long-term use of opioids for chronic non-cancer pain: an overview of Cochrane Reviews. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 10, CD012509 (2017).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Hamilton, M. et al. Barriers, facilitators, and resources to opioid deprescribing in primary care: experiences of general practitioners in Australia. Pain 163, e518–e526 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cochin University Hospital, Pain Medicine Department, Paris Cité University, Paris, France

    Serge Perrot & Anne-Priscille Trouvin

  2. INSERM U987, Boulogne Billancourt, France

    Serge Perrot & Anne-Priscille Trouvin

Authors
  1. Serge Perrot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anne-Priscille Trouvin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Serge Perrot.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

S.P. has been involved in conferences and advisory boards for Grunenthal, UPSA, Sanofi and Pfizer. A.-P. T. declares no competing interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Perrot, S., Trouvin, AP. Re-thinking the perception of long-term opioid use in RMDs. Nat Rev Rheumatol 19, 678–679 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-023-01022-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-023-01022-3

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing