Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35384242›Full record

ArticleInternal medicine journal2022

Real-world opioid prescription to patients with serious, non-malignant, respiratory illnesses and chronic breathlessness.

Xinye Chen, Thomas Moran, Natasha Smallwood

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Internal medicine journal, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 26% 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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Xinye ChenDepartment of Medicine, Eastern Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-5412-9403
Thomas MoranDepartment of Medicine, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Natasha SmallwoodDepartment of Respiratory Medicine, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-3403-3586
Eastern Health · AUThe Alfred Hospital · AUThe Royal Melbourne Hospital · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundChronic breathlessness is a disabling symptom that is often under-recognised and challenging to treat despite optimal disease-directed therapy. Low-dose, oral opioids are recommended to relieve breathlessness, but little is known regarding long-term opioid prescription in this setting.

aimTo investigate the long-term efficacy of, and side-effects from, opioids prescribed for chronic breathlessness to patients with advanced, non-malignant, respiratory diseases.

methodsA prospective cohort study of all patients managed by the advanced lung disease service, an integrated respiratory and palliative care service, at the Royal Melbourne Hospital from 1 April 2013 to 3 March 2020.

resultsOne hundred and nine patients were prescribed opioids for chronic breathlessness. The median length of opioid use was 9.8 (interquartile range (IQR) = 2.8-19.8) months. The most commonly prescribed initial regimen was an immediate-release preparation (i.e. Ordine) used as required (37; 33.9%). For long-term treatment, the most frequently prescribed regimen included an extended-release preparation with an as needed immediate-release (37; 33.9%). The median dose prescribed was 12 (IQR = 8-28) mg oral morphine equivalents/day. Seventy-one (65.1%) patients reported a subjective improvement in breathlessness. There was no significant change in the mean modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea score (P = 0.807) or lung function measurements (P = 0.086-0.727). There was no association between mortality and the median duration of opioid use (P = 0.201) or dose consumed (P = 0.130). No major adverse events were reported.

conclusionWithin this integrated respiratory and palliative care service, patients with severe, non-malignant respiratory diseases safely used long-term, low-dose opioids for breathlessness with subjective benefits reported and no serious adverse events.

Indexed as

Analgesics, OpioidDyspneaHumansMorphinePrescriptionsProspective StudiesAnalgesics, OpioidMorphinebreathlessnesschronicopioidrespiratorysafety

Identifiers

PMID35384242
PMCPMC9795913
OpenAlexW4223999151

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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.