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An expert panel of pain management clinicians has released what they say are the first international guidelines for general practitioners on opioid analgesic deprescribing in adults.
The recommendations describe best practices for stopping opioid therapy and emphasize slow tapering and individualized deprescribing plans tailored to each patient.
Developed by general practitioners, pain specialists, addiction specialists, pharmacists, registered nurses, consumers, and physiotherapists, the guidelines note that deprescribing may not be appropriate for every patient and that stopping abruptly can be associated with an increased risk of overdose.
“Internationally, we were seeing significant harms from opioids but also significant harms from unsolicited and abrupt opioid cessation,” said lead author Aili Langford, PhD, who conducted the study as a doctoral student at the University of Sydney. “It was clear that recommendations to support safe and person-centered opioid deprescribing were required.”
The findings were published online in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Deprescribing plan
The consensus guidelines include 11 recommendations for deprescribing in adult patients who take at least one opioid for any type of pain.
Recommendations include implementing a deprescribing plan when opioids are first prescribed and gradual and individualized deprescribing, with regular monitoring and review.
Clinicians should consider opioid deprescribing in patients who experience no clinically meaningful improvement in function, quality of life, or pain at high risk with opioid therapy, they note. Patients who are at high risk for opioid-related harm are also good candidates for deprescribing.
Stopping opioid therapy is not recommended for patients with severe opioid use disorder (OUD). In those patients, medication-assisted OUD treatment and other evidence-based interventions are recommended.
“Opioids can be effective in pain management,” co-author Carl Schneider, PhD, an associate professor of pharmacy at the University of Sydney, said in a press release. “However, over the longer term, the risk of harms may outweigh the benefits.”
A ‘global problem’
Commenting on the guidelines, Orman Trent Hall, DO, assistant professor of addiction medicine, department of psychiatry and behavioral health at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, said they are similar to recommendations published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016 and 2022 but offer additional information that could be helpful.
“This new guideline provides more explicit advice about tapering and withdrawal management, which may be useful to practitioners. The opioid crisis is a global problem, and while individual countries may require local solutions, the new international guideline may offer a framework for approaching this issue,” he said.
The guideline’s emphasis on the potential risks of deprescribing in some patients is also key, Dr. Hall added. Patients who are tapering off opioid therapy may have worsening pain and loss of function that can affect their quality of life.
“Patients may also experience psychological harm and increased risk of opioid use disorder and death by suicide following opioid deprescribing,” Dr. Hall said. “Therefore, it is important for providers to carefully weigh the risks of prescribing and deprescribing and engage patients with person-centered communication and shared decision-making.”
The work was funded by grants from the University of Sydney and the National Health and Medical Research Council. Full disclosures are available in the original article. Dr. Hall has provided expert opinion to the health care consultancy firm Lumanity and Emergent BioSolutions regarding the overdose crisis.
A version of this article originally appeared on Medscape.com.
An expert panel of pain management clinicians has released what they say are the first international guidelines for general practitioners on opioid analgesic deprescribing in adults.
The recommendations describe best practices for stopping opioid therapy and emphasize slow tapering and individualized deprescribing plans tailored to each patient.
Developed by general practitioners, pain specialists, addiction specialists, pharmacists, registered nurses, consumers, and physiotherapists, the guidelines note that deprescribing may not be appropriate for every patient and that stopping abruptly can be associated with an increased risk of overdose.
“Internationally, we were seeing significant harms from opioids but also significant harms from unsolicited and abrupt opioid cessation,” said lead author Aili Langford, PhD, who conducted the study as a doctoral student at the University of Sydney. “It was clear that recommendations to support safe and person-centered opioid deprescribing were required.”
The findings were published online in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Deprescribing plan
The consensus guidelines include 11 recommendations for deprescribing in adult patients who take at least one opioid for any type of pain.
Recommendations include implementing a deprescribing plan when opioids are first prescribed and gradual and individualized deprescribing, with regular monitoring and review.
Clinicians should consider opioid deprescribing in patients who experience no clinically meaningful improvement in function, quality of life, or pain at high risk with opioid therapy, they note. Patients who are at high risk for opioid-related harm are also good candidates for deprescribing.
Stopping opioid therapy is not recommended for patients with severe opioid use disorder (OUD). In those patients, medication-assisted OUD treatment and other evidence-based interventions are recommended.
“Opioids can be effective in pain management,” co-author Carl Schneider, PhD, an associate professor of pharmacy at the University of Sydney, said in a press release. “However, over the longer term, the risk of harms may outweigh the benefits.”
A ‘global problem’
Commenting on the guidelines, Orman Trent Hall, DO, assistant professor of addiction medicine, department of psychiatry and behavioral health at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, said they are similar to recommendations published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016 and 2022 but offer additional information that could be helpful.
“This new guideline provides more explicit advice about tapering and withdrawal management, which may be useful to practitioners. The opioid crisis is a global problem, and while individual countries may require local solutions, the new international guideline may offer a framework for approaching this issue,” he said.
The guideline’s emphasis on the potential risks of deprescribing in some patients is also key, Dr. Hall added. Patients who are tapering off opioid therapy may have worsening pain and loss of function that can affect their quality of life.
“Patients may also experience psychological harm and increased risk of opioid use disorder and death by suicide following opioid deprescribing,” Dr. Hall said. “Therefore, it is important for providers to carefully weigh the risks of prescribing and deprescribing and engage patients with person-centered communication and shared decision-making.”
The work was funded by grants from the University of Sydney and the National Health and Medical Research Council. Full disclosures are available in the original article. Dr. Hall has provided expert opinion to the health care consultancy firm Lumanity and Emergent BioSolutions regarding the overdose crisis.
A version of this article originally appeared on Medscape.com.
An expert panel of pain management clinicians has released what they say are the first international guidelines for general practitioners on opioid analgesic deprescribing in adults.
The recommendations describe best practices for stopping opioid therapy and emphasize slow tapering and individualized deprescribing plans tailored to each patient.
Developed by general practitioners, pain specialists, addiction specialists, pharmacists, registered nurses, consumers, and physiotherapists, the guidelines note that deprescribing may not be appropriate for every patient and that stopping abruptly can be associated with an increased risk of overdose.
“Internationally, we were seeing significant harms from opioids but also significant harms from unsolicited and abrupt opioid cessation,” said lead author Aili Langford, PhD, who conducted the study as a doctoral student at the University of Sydney. “It was clear that recommendations to support safe and person-centered opioid deprescribing were required.”
The findings were published online in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Deprescribing plan
The consensus guidelines include 11 recommendations for deprescribing in adult patients who take at least one opioid for any type of pain.
Recommendations include implementing a deprescribing plan when opioids are first prescribed and gradual and individualized deprescribing, with regular monitoring and review.
Clinicians should consider opioid deprescribing in patients who experience no clinically meaningful improvement in function, quality of life, or pain at high risk with opioid therapy, they note. Patients who are at high risk for opioid-related harm are also good candidates for deprescribing.
Stopping opioid therapy is not recommended for patients with severe opioid use disorder (OUD). In those patients, medication-assisted OUD treatment and other evidence-based interventions are recommended.
“Opioids can be effective in pain management,” co-author Carl Schneider, PhD, an associate professor of pharmacy at the University of Sydney, said in a press release. “However, over the longer term, the risk of harms may outweigh the benefits.”
A ‘global problem’
Commenting on the guidelines, Orman Trent Hall, DO, assistant professor of addiction medicine, department of psychiatry and behavioral health at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, said they are similar to recommendations published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016 and 2022 but offer additional information that could be helpful.
“This new guideline provides more explicit advice about tapering and withdrawal management, which may be useful to practitioners. The opioid crisis is a global problem, and while individual countries may require local solutions, the new international guideline may offer a framework for approaching this issue,” he said.
The guideline’s emphasis on the potential risks of deprescribing in some patients is also key, Dr. Hall added. Patients who are tapering off opioid therapy may have worsening pain and loss of function that can affect their quality of life.
“Patients may also experience psychological harm and increased risk of opioid use disorder and death by suicide following opioid deprescribing,” Dr. Hall said. “Therefore, it is important for providers to carefully weigh the risks of prescribing and deprescribing and engage patients with person-centered communication and shared decision-making.”
The work was funded by grants from the University of Sydney and the National Health and Medical Research Council. Full disclosures are available in the original article. Dr. Hall has provided expert opinion to the health care consultancy firm Lumanity and Emergent BioSolutions regarding the overdose crisis.
A version of this article originally appeared on Medscape.com.