ArticleHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland)2022
Prescription Opioid Use among Patients with Chronic Noncancer Pain before and after the COVID-19 Outbreak in Taiwan: A Multicenter Prospective Observational Study.
Article in Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- Knowledge, attitudes and practices of pain management among Taiwanese physicians in a reformed 2-year postgraduate training programme: a cross-sectional questionnaire survey.Annals of medicine · 2025Article
- Assessment of opioid knowledge and attitudes among senior medical students in Taiwan's pain education curriculum: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey.BMC medical education · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 8 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 outbreak disrupted medical access for patients receiving chronic opioid therapy. This study investigated their prescription opioid dosages before and after the 2020 outbreak in Taiwan.
methodsA prospective questionnaire survey was conducted among registered outpatients receiving long-term opioids before July 2019 in Taiwan. The questionnaire included items from the Taiwanese Brief Pain Inventory and quality of life assessment. Follow-up surveys in outpatient departments through October 2020 were conducted to collect opioid prescription data.
resultsAfter a mean of 531 days, the questionnaire responses of 103 of the initial 117 respondents were reviewed. Daily opioid doses decreased for 31 respondents (30.1%), remained roughly equivalent (defined as ±2.5%) for 27 (26.2%), and increased for 45 (43.7%) after the first wave of the pandemic. The use of strong opioids and nonopioid medications did not significantly differ among the three groups, but less fentanyl patch use was noted in the decreased-dose group after the outbreak. More than 70% of the patients received daily high-dose opioids (≥90 morphine milligram equivalents); moreover, 60% reported constipation. No deaths due to opioid overdose occurred during the study period.
conclusionsThe COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 did not interrupt access to long-term opioid prescriptions for most registered patients with chronic pain in Taiwan. Less fentanyl patch use was observed in participants whose opioid dose was tapering.
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