Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Fredheim, Olav Magnus
• Skurtveit, Svetlana
• Handal, Marte
• Hjellvik, Vidar

Titel

A complete national cohort study of prescriptions of analgesics and benzodiazepines to cancer survivors in Norway 10 years after diagnosis

Ist Teil von

• Pain (Amsterdam), 2019-04, Vol.160 (4), p.852-859

Ort / Verlag

United States

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Chronic pain due to either surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy is prevalent in long-term cancer survivors. Chronic pain due to successful cancer treatment should be treated as chronic non-malignant pain, primarily with non-pharmacological strategies. Based on complete national data from the Cancer registry of Norway and the Norwegian prescription database the aim of this study was to compare the use of non-opioid analgesics, opioids and benzodiazepines ten years after cancer diagnosis in long-term cancer survivors and the age and gender adjusted general population. The one-year periodic prevalence of use was higher in long-term cancer survivors in all of the studied drug classes: opioids (143.5 vs 129.6/1000), paracetamol (88.3 vs. 80.7/1000), NSAIDs (229.1 vs. 221.7), gabapentinoids (13.4 vs. 10.0/1000), benzodiazepines (88.3 vs. 77.9/1000) and benzodiazepine-like hypnotics (118.1 vs. 97.4/1000). The prevalence of persistent and high-dose opioid use (> 365 defined daily doses (DDDs) and >730 DDDs, respectively, during 365 days, and prescriptions all quarters of the year) was also higher in the cancer survivors than in the general population (6.5 vs. 4.8/1000 for persistent use and 2.7 vs. 1.3/1000 for high-dose use). Less than 10% of persistent and high-dose users received only long acting opioid formulations. Furthermore, the majority of long-term cancer survivors with persistent or high-dose opioid use were also high-dose users (>100 DDDs/year) of either benzodiazepines or benzodiazepine-like hypnotics. It is an issue of concern that the majority of those using opioids did not adhere to guidelines regarding opioid formulation and co-medication with other drugs with addictive properties.