Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37668801›Full record

ArticleSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2023

Opioid consumption by cancer patients in an Israeli Health Maintenance Organization from 2007-2018.

Sasson Menahem, Tamar Freud, Erez Batat, Pesach Shvartzman

Abstract read
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Article in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2023. 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
–field-weighted citation impact
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.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Sasson MenahemPain and Palliative Care Unit, Kappy and Eric Flanders National Palliative Care Resource Center, The Haim Doron Division of Community Health,Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO BOX 653, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Tamar FreudSiaal Research Center for Family Medicine and Primary Care, Department of Family Medicine, The Haim Doron Division of Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Erez BatatHealth Planning and Policy Wing, Clalit Health Services, Community Division, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Pesach ShvartzmanPain and Palliative Care Unit, Kappy and Eric Flanders National Palliative Care Resource Center, The Haim Doron Division of Community Health,Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO BOX 653, Beer-Sheva, Israel. spesah@bgu.ac.il.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeOpioids are the cornerstone of therapy for cancer patients with moderate to severe pain. The objective was to characterize opioid purchases by cancer patients in Clalit Health Services (CHS), the largest Health Maintenance Organization in Israel, over the years 2007-2018.

methodsData for all CHS cancer patients aged 18 years old and above who purchased an opioid at least once during the 12-year study period were obtained from computerized databases. The amount of opioids was converted into oral morphine equivalents (OME).

results108,543 cancer patients who purchased opioids at least once were enrolled. They comprised 30.5% of the CHS purchasers of opioids in the study period. The total number of cancer patients who purchased an opioid at least once increased gradually from 13,057 in 2007 to 20,675 (58% increase) in 2018, while the annual number of CHS cancer patients increased by only 39%. The annual OME per capita increased from 753 mg in 2007 to 1,432 mg in 2018 (91% increase). In 2007 8.1% of the cancer patients purchased opioids and 9.2% in 2018. Two thirds of all cancer patients purchased opioids for three months or less, 11.9% continued for more than one year, and 5.8% for more than two years.

conclusionsThere is a clinically non-significant increase in the rate of cancer patients purchasing opioids. About two thirds of the cancer patients purchased opioids for only three months, and 94% for up to two years. Under-treatment of cancer pain should still be of concern. While patients are prescribed higher doses, under-prescription may still be a problem..

Indexed as

Cancer PainNeoplasmsAdolescentAnalgesics, OpioidDatabases, FactualHealth Maintenance OrganizationsHumansIsraelAnalgesics, OpioidCancer patientsConsumptionOpioidsPain relief

Identifiers

PMID37668801

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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.