Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21402957›Full record

ArticleCanadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2011

Chronic noncancer pain: characteristics of patients prescribed opioids by community physicians and referred to a tertiary pain clinic.

Angela Mailis-Gagnon, S Fatima Lakha, Ting Ou, Ada Louffat, Balaji Yegneswaran, Margarita Umana, Tea Cohodarevic, Keith Nicholson, Amol Deshpande

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
2.8field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  11. Dependence on Prescription Opioids.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2016
    Review
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Opioids, pain, and personality: the story of a substitute physician.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2011
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Angela Mailis-GagnonToronto Western Hospital, Toronto, ON M5T 2S8, Canada. angela.mailis@uhn.on.ca
S Fatima Lakha
Ting Ou
Ada Louffat
Balaji Yegneswaran
Margarita Umana
Tea Cohodarevic
Keith Nicholson
Amol Deshpande
Toronto Western Hospital · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo describe the characteristics of patients with chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) prescribed opioids by community physicians and referred to a tertiary pain clinic.

designCross-sectional, descriptive study.

settingA tertiary care, hospital-based pain clinic in Toronto, Ont.

participantsA total of 455 consecutive patients newly referred to the pain clinic by community physicians.

main outcome measuresData on demographic characteristics, pain ratings, and medication intake were obtained using standardized collection forms and retrospective chart review. Patients were classified by diagnosis: group 1 patients had biomedical disorders only, group 2 patients had biomedical disorders and psychological factors, and group 3 patients had psychological factors only. Patients were also categorized based on opioid use: no opioid use (NOU); low opioid use (LOU), with a daily morphine-equivalent dosage (MED) of 200 mg or less; or high opioid use (HOU), with a daily MED of more than 200 mg.

resultsIn the general study population, 63% of patients were taking opioids, with 1 in 5 exceeding an MED of 200 mg daily. In group 1, 59% of patients used opioids and 10% had HOU; 66% of patients in groups 2 and 3 were taking opioids, with 21% and 26% classified as having HOU. The mean (SD) daily MED for groups 2 and 3 HOU patients combined was significantly higher than that of group 1 HOU patients: 575.7 (472.9) mg/d versus 284.9 (74.6) mg/d, respectively. Men were twice as likely as women to have HOU; Canadian-born patients were 3 times as likely as foreign-born patients to have HOU. Psychoactive drugs were coprescribed in 61% of LOU patients and 76% of HOU patients. Greater opioid use was associated with group 2 and 3 diagnoses, male sex, Canadian-born origin, and high pain scores.

conclusionOur results indicate that male, Canadian-born CNCP patients presenting with psychological morbidity or comorbidity and reporting higher pain severity ratings were more likely to receive opioids. Additionally, many CNCP patients referred to our tertiary care pain clinic were receiving opioids in excess of a 200-mg/d MED. More studies are needed to determine which factors lead to high-dose opioid prescribing in a subset of this CNCP population.

Indexed as

AdultAnalgesics, OpioidAnticonvulsantsAntidepressive AgentsChronic DiseaseCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansHypnotics and SedativesMaleMedical RecordsMental DisordersMiddle AgedMusculoskeletal DiseasesNeuralgiaOntarioAnalgesics, OpioidAnticonvulsantsAntidepressive AgentsHypnotics and Sedatives

Identifiers

PMID21402957
PMCPMC3056702
OpenAlexW2158266286

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.