ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2022
Rapid Discontinuation of Chronic, High-Dose Opioid Treatment for Pain: Prevalence and Associated Factors.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Patient- and Clinician-Related Factors Associated With the Reduction in Opioid Use Among Adults With Chronic Non-Cancer Pain: A Systematic Review.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of interventions to reduce long term opioid treatment for chronic non-cancer pain: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2022Pooled it
- Examining Statewide Opioid Prescribing Limits and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Mandates: Provider Compliance and Patient Outcomes.AJPM focus · 2026Article
- Criterion validity and divergent risk profiles of long-term opioid therapy across medicare and medicaid.PloS one · 2026Article
- Factors associated with long-term opioid therapy discontinuation for people with chronic non-cancer pain in UK primary care: a population-based retrospective cohort study.British journal of anaesthesia · 2026Article
- Opioid Tapering and Opioid Overdose, Opioid Use Disorder, and Mortality Among Older Adults: A Nested Case-Control Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Development of the barriers to opioid access scale among individuals with chronic pain.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2025Article
- The association of state policies and opioid analgesic amount dispensed from retail pharmacies.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Article
- Incidence of Opioid Dose Tapering Among Older Adults Enrolled in Medicare.Innovation in aging · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Minimising Harm and Managing Pain: Deprescribing Opioids in Older Adults.Drugs & aging · 2024Review
- Patient Perspectives on Mental Health and Pain Management Support Needed Versus Received During Opioid Deprescribing.The journal of pain · 2024Article
- Observational
- Factors Associated With Abrupt Discontinuation of Long-Term High-Dose Opioid Treatment.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- An Exploratory Analysis of Differential Prescribing of High-Risk Opioids by Insurance Type Among Patients Seen by the Same Clinician.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- Dose tapering, increases, and discontinuity among patients on long-term high-dose opioid therapy in the United States, 2017-2019.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Observational
- Endogenous opioid systems alterations in pain and opioid use disorder.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo examine the prevalence of rapid discontinuation of chronic, high-dose opioid analgesic treatment, and identify associated patient, clinician, and community factors.
methodsUsing 2017-2018 retail pharmacy claims data from IQVIA, we identified chronic, high-dose opioid analgesic treatment episodes discontinued during these years and determined the percent of episodes meeting criteria for rapid discontinuation. We used multivariable logistic regression to estimate the probability of rapid discontinuation, conditional on having a discontinued chronic, high-dose opioid treatment episode, as a function of patient, provider, and county characteristics.
resultsWe identified 810,120 new, chronic, high-dose opioid treatment episodes discontinued in 2017 or 2018, of which 72.0% (n=583,415) were rapidly discontinued. Rapid discontinuation was significantly more likely among Medicare (aOR 1.14, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.15) and Medicaid enrollees (aOR 1.03, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.05) compared to the commercially insured; in counties with higher fatal overdose rates (aOR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.04) compared to counties with the lowest fatal overdose rates; and in counties with a higher percentage of non-white residents (aOR 1.21 for counties in the highest quartile relative to the lowest, 95% CI 1.19 to 1.24). Likelihood of rapid discontinuation also varied by prescriber specialty.
conclusionsMost chronic, high-dose opioid treatment episodes that ended in 2017 or 2018 were discontinued more rapidly than recommended by clinical guidelines, raising concerns about adverse patient outcomes. Our findings highlight the need to understand what drives discontinuation and to inform safer opioid tapering and discontinuation practices.
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Registered trials
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