Opioids News and Research

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An opioid is a chemical that works by binding to opioid receptors, which are found principally in the central nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract. The receptors in these two organ systems mediate both the beneficial effects and the side effects of opioids.

Policies restricting opioid prescriptions could harm pain patients, suggests review

A recent review and analysis suggests that some policies restricting opioid prescriptions to curb overdose deaths could be harming those who need them the most: pain patients.

13 Jul 2016

ASA recommends parents to ask seven questions to child's physician anesthesiologist prior to surgery

Millions of children have surgery every year - for everything from tonsil removal to correction of a heart defect - and understandably parents are often anxious about their child's safety and comfort.

12 Jul 2016

Opioid funding bill should address greater access to balanced pain management

The Alliance for Balanced Pain Management (AfBPM) made the following statement on the Obama administration’s plan to curb the opioid addiction crisis, which was released this morning as Congress prepares to tackle funding for related programs.

8 Jul 2016

Study reveals many women may be smoking and exposed to nicotine during pregnancy

More women may be smoking and exposed to nicotine during pregnancy than previously thought, according to a new study by researchers from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in collaboration with Cradle Cincinnati.

7 Jul 2016

Study reveals high healthcare costs for chronic pain patients in Canada

Costs of patients who develop chronic post-surgical pain could range from $2.5 million to $4.1 million a year, in one Ontario hospital alone, according to a study in Pain Management.

6 Jul 2016

Programs to prevent prescription drug misuse may be underused, study reveals

Misuse of prescription pain medications remains a major public health problem -- but programs to prevent it may be underused, according to a study in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

29 Jun 2016

NYU dentists receive grant to test whether non-viral gene delivery can effectively treat oral cancer pain

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded Drs. Brian Schmidt and Seiichi Yamano a $1.2M (3-year) grant to test whether their non-viral gene delivery method can effectively and safely treat oral cancer pain.

28 Jun 2016

Researchers use wristband sensors to detect how opioid users in emergency room reacted to dosages

There is merit in looking at the use of wearable biosensors to detect whether opioid users stay focused on their rehabilitation programs.

23 Jun 2016

Study finds dramatic increase in nonmedical use of prescription opioids in the U.S.

Nonmedical use of prescription opioids more than doubled among adults in the United States from 2001-2002 to 2012-2013, based on a study from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health. Nearly 10 million Americans, or 4.1 percent of the adult population, used opioid medications in 2012-2013 a class of drugs that includes OxyContin and Vicodin, without a prescription or not as prescribed (in greater amounts, more often, or longer than prescribed) in the past year.

23 Jun 2016

Drexel University researchers aim to identify new molecular mechanisms involved in chronic pain

Chronic pain is one of the most prevalent, disabling and expensive public health crises in the United States. It affects more than 100 million Americans, with annual costs estimated at $635 billion, says a 2014 report from the American Pain Society.

22 Jun 2016

Long-term opioid therapy may not be effective to manage pain in sickle cell disease patients

In a small study looking at pain assessments in adults with sickle cell disease, researchers at Johns Hopkins says overall, those treated long-term with opioids often fared worse in measures of pain, fatigue and curtailed daily activities than those not on long-term opioids.

21 Jun 2016

Nonopioid interventional options for chronic pain not covered by insurance in few U.S. states

Recent studies have shown significant therapeutic value from the use of high-frequency - 10,000 (HF-10) spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for patients experiencing chronic back and leg pain.

20 Jun 2016

Opioid use common among Medicare beneficiaries after hospital discharge

Nearly 15 percent of opioid-naïve patients hospitalized under Medicare are discharged with a new prescription for opioids, according to a study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.

15 Jun 2016

New survey reveals more than half of patients prescribed opioids have leftover pills

In the midst of an epidemic of prescription painkiller addiction and overdose deaths, a new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health survey suggests that more than half of patients prescribed opioids have leftover pills -- and many save them to use later.

14 Jun 2016

Study describes how opioid receptors participate in spermatozoa production

The study conducted at the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country describes for the first time how these receptors participate in spermatogenesis.

8 Jun 2016

Risk group system may help better predict long-term consequences from whiplash trauma

Possible long-term consequences from a whiplash trauma can be effectively predicted if the injured persons are subdivided into different risk groups shortly after the car accident. This is shown by a Danish study that was presented at the Congress of the European Academy of Neurology in Copenhagen.

1 Jun 2016

Study identifies persistent opioid use in some patients after knee or hip replacement

Many patients undergoing hip or knee replacement are still taking prescription opioid pain medications up to six months after surgery, reports a study in PAIN, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

1 Jun 2016

Short-term use of opioids implicated in protracted pain, new study finds

Painkillers such as morphine, oxycodone and methadone could actually prolong and increase pain even after only a few days’ use, according to research conducted on rats by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder in the US.

31 May 2016

Brief opioid exposure can cause increase in chronic pain

The dark side of painkillers - their dramatic increase in use and ability to trigger abuse, addiction and thousands of fatal overdoses annually in the United States is in the news virtually every day.