ArticlePain and therapy2022
Opioid Taper is Associated with Improved Experimental Pain Tolerance in Patients with Chronic Pain: An Observational Study.
Article in Pain and therapy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03912298 (Effect of Opioid Taper on Pain Responses in Patients With Chronic Pain), which is not on this map. Cited by 7 papers.
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.
Effect of Opioid Taper on Pain Responses in Patients With Chronic Pain
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Outcomes of an opioid reduction tool among patients with chronic noncancer pain in primary care.Family practice · 2026Article
- "Buprenorphine, It Works so Differently": Adults with Sickle Cell Disease Describe Transitioning to Buprenorphine for Treatment of Chronic Pain.The journal of pain · 2024Article
- Art therapy's engagement of brain networks for enduring recovery from addiction.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- The Complex Association of Daily Opioid Dose with Visits for Pain in Sickle Cell Disease: Tolerance or Treatment-Refractory Pain?Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2023Observational
- Article
- Knowing the Enemy Is Halfway towards Victory: A Scoping Review on Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Clinical Observation of the Effects of Oral Opioid on Inflammatory Cytokines and Gut Microbiota in Patients with Moderate to Severe Cancer Pain: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Pain and therapy · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionThe degree to which opioid-induced hyperalgesia contributes to the pain experience of patients with chronic pain remains relatively undescribed. The objective of this pilot study was to determine if experimental pain responses improve in patients with chronic pain as they undergo a planned opioid taper.
methodsThis was a prospective observational study. Seven patients with chronic neuropathic pain on at least 120 mg morphine equivalents/day were enrolled. The participants were followed over the course of an individualized opioid taper to a lower dose. Measures of experimental pain sensitivity, including indicators of central pain modulation, were collected on a biweekly basis; in addition, measures of function and quality of life were collected monthly. The effect of opioid taper on pain responses and functional outcomes over time were examined using longitudinal mixed-effects regression modeling and general linear regression modeling with regularization as a function of baseline dose, end dose, and taper rate.
resultsIn this small sample of patients undergoing highly individualized and variable opioid taper, the opioid taper was significantly associated with improved pain responses to the cold-pressor test, with the pain threshold on average increasing by 1.14 s every 6 weeks (p = 0.0084, 95% confidence interval [CI] for 6-week change 0.3039-2.0178) and pain tolerance on average increasing by 2.87 s every 6 weeks (p = 0.0026, 95% CI for 6-week change 1.02-4.7277). Taper-related changes in central pain modulation were not observed, although conditioned modulation trended toward improvement by the completion of opioid taper. Similarly, no declines in function and quality of life were observed with the opioid taper, suggesting stability despite decreased opioid dose.
conclusionsOpioid taper was associated with improvements in experimental pain responses without a decline in function and quality of life, suggestive of diminished opioid-induced hyperalgesia in this clinical sample.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT03912298.
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