ReviewDrugs & aging2005
Underutilisation of opioids in elderly patients with chronic pain: approaches to correcting the problem.
Review in Drugs & aging, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 128 citations in OpenAlex.
- Quality Indicators for the Pharmacological Management of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain in Older Adult Patients: An Integrative Review.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2025Pooled it
- Outcomes associated with opioid use in the treatment of chronic noncancer pain in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2010Pooled it
- Tolerability, Safety, and Effectiveness of Oxycodone DETERx in Elderly Patients ≥65 Years of Age with Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Drugs & aging · 2017Trial
- Pain interference impacts response to treatment for anxiety disorders.Depression and anxiety · 2009Trial
- Trial
- Retrospective Analysis of Disparities in Timing of Prehospital and Emergency Department Pain Management by Sex and Age.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Management of Chronic Pain in Elderly Patients: The Central Role of Nurses in Multidisciplinary Care.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Pharmacological Perspective on the Neurobiology of PI3K-Akt-mTOR Signalling in Opioid Dependence.CNS & neurological disorders drug targets · 2025Review
- Targeting Chemokines and Chemokine GPCRs to Enhance Strong Opioid Efficacy in Neuropathic Pain.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Opioids and Falls Risk in Older Adults: A Narrative Review.Drugs & aging · 2022Review
- Article
- 'If you can't see a dilemma in this situation you should probably regard it as a warning': a metasynthesis and theoretical modelling of general practitioners' opioid prescription experiences in primary care.British journal of pain · 2019Article
- Analgesic Use Patterns Among Patients With Dementia During Transitions From Hospitals to Skilled Nursing Facilities.Research in gerontological nursing · 2019Article
- Tapentadol Extended Release in the Treatment of Severe Chronic Low Back Pain and Osteoarthritis Pain.Pain and therapy · 2018Review
- Opioid use and the presence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias among elderly Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with chronic pain conditions.Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.) · 2018Article
- Pain severity and pharmacologic pain management among community-living older adults: the MOBILIZE Boston study.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2017Article
- Analgesic use by ageing and elderly patients with chronic non-malignant pain: a qualitative study.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2017Article
- Tolerability of Opioid Analgesia for Chronic Pain: A Network Meta-Analysis.Scientific reports · 2017Review
- Advancing the pain management in older adults agenda forward through the development of key research and education priorities: A Canadian perspective.Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2017Article
- Expanding Targets for Intervention in Later Life Pain: What Role Can Patient Beliefs, Expectations, and Pleasant Activities Play?Clinics in geriatric medicine · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The impact of poorly managed chronic pain on the quality of life of elderly patients and the problems related to its management are widely acknowledged. Underutilisation of opioids is a major component of poor pain management in this group of patients, despite good evidence for the effectiveness of opioids and published guidelines directing their usage. Reasons for this underutilisation are, among others, poor assessment of pain in this age group; fear of polypharmacy and opiophobia; and avoidance of opioids because of concerns about tolerance, physical dependence, addiction and adverse effects. This review suggests approaches to overcome these barriers to opioid usage, such as regular pain assessments, education to overcome opiophobia, rational prescribing, utilisation of less conventional opioids and non-oral routes of administration, avoidance of inappropriate opioids, opioid rotation, and education about managing or preventing adverse effects, the reasons why opioid therapy may be unsuccessful, and the effects of psychological factors on the pain experience. This more rational and knowledge-based approach to the use of opioids in the management of chronic pain in the elderly population should correct the current problems with underprescribing in this age group.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.