ArticlePain and therapy2025
The Use of Opioids in an Acute Palliative Care Unit to Re-assess Prescriptions.
Article in Pain and therapy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Opioid Use in Older Adults with Cancer Pain Admitted to an Acute Palliative Care Unit: Does Age Matter? A Secondary Analysis.Drugs & aging · 2026Article
- Evaluating the Use of Tumor Bank DNA to Validate Genetic Factors Impacting Opioid Response in Patients with Advanced Cancer.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2026Article
- Opioid Stewardship and Gastrointestinal (GI)-Sparing Alternatives in Primary Care Pain Management.Cureus · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThis study aimed to re-assess opioid prescriptions in an acute palliative care unit (APCU) 12 years after a previous audit.
methodsConsecutive patients with advanced cancer who were admitted to the APCU for a period of 5 months for uncontrolled pain were analyzed. Information regarding opioids, and route of administration, prescribed prior to admission, during admission, and at time of discharge was recorded. Opioids, doses, and routes were changed according to the clinical need to obtain the maximum benefit, individualizing the treatment. The opioid escalation index was calculated in milligrams (OEImg) and as a percentage (OEI%).
resultsA total of 113 patients were assessed. The mean pain intensity at admission and at time of discharge was 6.4 (SD 1.8) and 2.3 (SD 1.4), respectively (P < 0.0005). The mean opioid dose expressed as oral morphine equivalent (OME) by patients who were receiving opioids before admission was 128 mg/day (SD 120). There was no statistical difference in OME between admission and discharge time. Sixty-one and 20 patients were prescribed a second and a third opioid/route, respectively. Mean OEI% and OEImg were 9.3% (SD = 22.5) and 4.0 mg/day (SD = 24.1), respectively. Only a minority of patients had a breakthrough pain prescription at admission. Intravenous morphine was more frequently prescribed at beginning, then replaced by oral morphine and fentanyl preparations at discharge.
conclusionsAn intensive and careful use of opioids in the APCU allows for the achievement of adequate analgesia in all examined patients within a short time, without increasing OME. These findings should encourage further studies in APCUs as well as in other palliative care settings.
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