LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. – Mortality related to prescription opioids is still climbing nationwide but not in centers or regions where there has been widespread implementation of guidelines for appropriate use, according to an expert involved in implementing guidelines in Washington state.
“If you follow guidelines for use of opioids, you can do what we did in Washington state and change the direction of those mortality curves,” reported David J. Tauben, MD, chief of pain medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Dr. David Tauben
In data presented at the meeting, Dr. Tauben showed that the steep increase in opioid-related deaths and hospitalizations dating back to 1997 plateaued in Washington soon after the guidelines were implemented in 2007 and have followed a steep downward trajectory through the last year of follow-up in 2014.
Those data contrast starkly with nationwide figures updated June 21, 2016, on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. In those figures, which also track data through 2014, the rates of deaths tied to drug overdose overall and to related to prescription opioids specifically have continued to climb. On the CDC website, which states that deaths related to prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999, it was noted that more patients died from drug overdoses in 2014 than in any previous year. Prescriptions opioids were characterized as the “driving force” of this ongoing epidemic.
Washington state’s guidelines were created by the State Agency Medical Directors’ Group. But Dr. Tauben said that the principles of appropriate use of prescription opioids are well established and most recently were described in the CDC’s March 15, 2016, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). He suggested that adherence to these recommendations, which guide who to treat, how to treat, and how to assess for those most at risk for complications from opioids, can be expected to produce the same result.
Not least important, clinicians can keep the risk of overdose low by keeping doses low. Collating data from several studies, Dr. Tauben showed that the risk of overdose remains modest at opioid equivalent doses of 20 mg to about 50 mg per day. Graphically, the daily 50-mg equivalent was characterized as “the point of deflection where patients get in trouble.” In three of four published studies, the rise of rates in overdose was precipitous at about this point.
Keeping patients at a daily dose of 50 mg or below is further supported by the fact that “there is no evidence that a higher dose provides any additional benefit,” Dr. Tauben said. He also cited a study showing that patients at higher doses are more likely to have psychiatric comorbidity that complicates the pain complaint and may be better treated by alternative strategies.
At the University of Washington, chronic pain now is addressed routinely with a collaborative team approach that not only includes pain specialists but nursing care coordinators, pharmacists, physical therapists, and others, Dr. Tauben said. He considers increased physical activity, one of the goals in a collaborative multidisciplinary approach to chronic pain, a “miracle cure,” but acknowledged that designing comprehensive treatment that includes such strategies takes time and, at least initially, increases costs. However, he believes there is a clear return on investment.
“The evidence shows that effective control of chronic pain ultimately reduces costs,” Dr. Tauben said. Citing several studies, Dr. Tauben explained that chronic pain patients are major consumers of health care services and that consumption diminishes markedly when pain is controlled. He believes that most institutions would adopt and fund multidisciplinary pain care if fully informed of the cost benefits.
Although he acknowledged that many clinicians consider chronic pain patients challenging, Dr. Tauben said comprehensive pain management strategies are effective in most patients. After many years in general practice, Dr. Tauben switched to a focus on chronic pain because of the large unmet need and the success that can be achieved when a multidisciplinary treatment approach is applied.
“I became a pain specialist because it was the most satisfying part of my career,” Dr. Tauben reported.
To see the June 21 CDC data on opioid overdose, visit http//www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/date/overdose.html. The March 15 MMWR report on the CDC guideline for prescribing opioids for chronic pain can be found at www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/rr/6501e1.htm.
The meeting was held by the American Pain Society and Global Academy for Medical Education. Global Academy and this news organization are owned by the same company. Dr. Tauben reported no potential financial conflicts of interest.