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WEDNESDAY, Feb. 21, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Many patients with non-cancer-related chronic pain prescribed long-term opioids may wish to taper their opioid use, according to a research letter published online Feb. 19 in JAMA Internal Medicine<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Beth D. Darnall, Ph.D., from the Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif., and colleagues conducted a study in which patients with non-cancer-related chronic pain prescribed long-term opioids at a community pain clinic were given education about the benefits of opioid reduction. Physicians offered to partner with patients to gradually reduce their dosages of opioids over four months. Seventy-five percent of 110 eligible patients (82 patients) agreed to taper their opioid dosages; participants received a self-help book and an individually designed taper.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that 38 percent of the 82 enrolled patients did not complete a four-month follow-up survey and were considered to have dropped out. There was a negative correlation for depression and a positive correlation for baseline marijuana use with study completion. The baseline median morphine equivalent daily dose (MEDD) was 288 mg among study completers, with a median six-year duration of opioid use. The median MEDD was reduced to 150 mg after four months. Opioid reduction was not associated with increased pain intensity or pain interference.<\/p>\n
“Our findings suggest that a substantial fraction of patients at a pain clinic may wish to engage in voluntary opioid tapering,” the authors write.<\/p>\n