Importance: Opioid-tolerant only (OTO) medications, such as transmucosal immediate-release fentanyl products and certain extended-release opioid analgesics, require prior opioid tolerance for safe use, as patients without tolerance may be at increased risk of overdose. Studies using insurance claims have found that many patients initiating these medications do not appear to be opioid tolerant.
Objectives: To measure prevalence of opioid tolerance in patients initiating OTO medications and to determine whether linked electronic health record (EHR) data contribute evidence of opioid tolerance not found in insurance claims data.
Importance: Many stakeholders are working to improve the safe use of immediate-release (IR) and extended-release/long-acting (ER/LA) opioid analgesics. However, little information exists regarding the relative use of these 2 formulations in chronic pain management.
Objectives: To describe the distribution of IR and ER/LA opioid analgesic therapy duration and examine adding and switching patterns among patients receiving long-term IR opioid analgesic therapy, defined as at least 90 consecutive days of IR formulation use.
Purpose: Fentanyl transdermal system (FTS) is intended only for patients with prior opioid tolerance. The purpose of this study is to identify the proportion of new FTS users who had evidence of prior opioid tolerance, by dosage strength, in FDA's Sentinel System.
Methods: We identified new FTS episodes (183-day washout) from 2009 through 2013.
Purpose: Despite the rise in serious adverse events paralleling increased prescription opioid analgesic use in the United States over the past 2 decades, the association between opioid analgesic dose and the risk of serious adverse health outcomes is incompletely characterized. We sought to synthesize the medical literature for observational studies examining the association between opioid analgesic dose and the risk of serious adverse health outcomes, with particular attention to the outcomes of misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose, and death.
Methods: Searching MEDLINE using PubMed and bibliography review, we identified 22 observational studies published between 2000 and 2015 that assessed the association between opioid analgesic dose and the risk of serious adverse health outcomes.
Objective: A risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for extended-release and long-acting (ER/LA) opioid analgesics was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2012. Our objective was to assess frequency of opioid tolerance and urine drug testing for individuals initiating ER/LA opioid analgesics.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.