ReviewPain medicine (Malden, Mass.)2015
Opioid Therapy and Sleep Disorders: Risks and Mitigation Strategies.
Review in Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.), 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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
31 citing papers in PubMed, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Sustained Benefits of Exercise-based Motivational Interviewing, but Only among Nonusers of Opioids in Patients with Fibromyalgia.The Journal of rheumatology · 2017Trial
- Sleep disturbance in patients undergoing shoulder surgery: a current concepts review.JSES reviews, reports, and techniques · 2026Review
- Actigraphy-based sleep outcomes in substance use disorders: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2026Article
- Sleep Quality in Chronic Pain Patients With and Without Strong Opioid Use: An Observational Study Using a Wearable Device.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2025Observational
- Orofacial pain/headache interlaced to insomnia, sleep apnea and periodic limb movement during sleep/restless leg syndrome: a critical and comprehensive review with insights into social determinants.Journal of oral & facial pain and headache · 2025Review
- Improving Anxiety Related to Chronic Pain Through a Sleep Circadian Intervention Program: A Pilot Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Relationship Between Sleep Disturbances and Chronic Pain: A Narrative Review.Clinics and practice · 2024Review
- Feasibility and acceptability of wearing a neuromodulation device at night in individuals in recovery from opioid use disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Methadone Dose and Timing of Administration as Predictors of Sleep Apnea Syndrome During Methadone Maintenance Treatment: A Retrospective Cross-sectional Study.Addiction & health · 2023Article
- Clinical Trial Design Challenges and Opportunities for Emerging Treatments for Opioid Use Disorder: A Review.JAMA psychiatry · 2023Review
- µ-Opioid Receptors Expressed by Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells Contribute to Morphine-Induced Behavioral Sensitization.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Past-year use or misuse of an opioid is associated with use of a sedative-hypnotic medication: a US National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) study.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2022Article
- Review
- Prevalence and drug use correlates of extra-medical use of prescription medications for sleep among adults in the United States: Results of the 2015-2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2021Article
- Daily associations between sleep and opioid use among adults with comorbid symptoms of insomnia and fibromyalgia.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2021Article
- Nonpharmacologic Treatments for Opioid Reduction in Patients With Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease.Seminars in nephrology · 2021Review
- Pain Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Pain and therapy · 2020Review
- Sleep Disturbances After General Anesthesia: Current Perspectives.Frontiers in neurology · 2020Review
- Interacting Influences of Sleep, Pain, and Analgesic Medications on Sleep Studies in Rodents.Comparative medicine · 2019Review
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 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivePatients with chronic pain frequently experience concomitant sleep disorders. There has been controversy on whether opioids have a beneficial or deleterious effect on sleep quality, duration and efficiency. There is also concern regarding the association between chronic opioid therapy (COT) and sleep disordered breathing (SDB) and the increased risk for unintentional opioid related overdose. This article provides a narrative review of the literature on the effect of opioids on sleep disorders and discusses risk assessment and mitigation strategies.
designA narrative review of the current literature on the effect of prescription opioids on sleep quality and efficiency, the relationship between opioids and sleep disorders and potential risk factors in patients with chronic pain.
resultsThere is conflicting evidence regarding the benefit of opioids in improving sleep quality, duration and efficiency with several studies and reviews suggesting a beneficial effect of opioids on sleep and other studies demonstrating the opioids can cause sleep disturbance leading to hyperalgesia. There was credible evidence of a strong relationship between opioids and SDB with noted risk factors including use of methadone, high opioid dosing (>200 mg MED) and combining opioids with benzodiazepines.
conclusionsFurther research is required to elucidate the effect of prescription opioids on sleep quality and pain intensity and the risks associated with opioids and SDB. The risk of SDB should be routinely assessed in patients on COT.
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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.