VA study looked at back, knee and hip pain
re opioid medications the most effective treatment for chronic pain, in spite of the addiction risks they pose?
Half Received Opioids Half were treated with opioids and half with non-opioid medications – either common over-the-counter drugs like ac- etaminophen or naproxen, or prescription drugs like topical lidocaine or meloxicam. Patients were recruited from 62 Minneap- olis VA primary care clinicians from June, 2013 to December, 2015 Patients were randomly assigned to either an opioid group or a non-opioid group, both starting with low-intensity drugs but able to move to stronger medication, if necessary. After 12 months, the results showed that patients given alternative drugs did just as well as those taking opi- oids in terms of how much pain interfered with their everyday life. And, they reported slightly less pain and experienced fewer side effects.
Over the past 20 years, opioids have become many physicians’ “go to” answer to helping their patients with chronic pain. However, a study published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) produced a surprising answer to that question. The Strategies for Prescribing Analgesics Comparative Effectiveness (SPACE) study was the first long-term, randomized, controlled trial comparing opioids with non-opioids for treating chronic pain. Beginning in 2012, the study funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and conducted at the University of Minnesota, involved 240 veterans with chronic back pain or pain from osteoarthritis of the knee or hip. They also all had pain that was on- going and intense.
The trial’s lead author, Erin Krebs, M.D., conceived the study after becoming aware
To be eligible for the study, patients had to have been experiencing chronic pain while also being on an analgesic drug; patients could not already be using a prescribed opioid for chronic pain.
-44-
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker