Nearly a quarter of young patients prescribed opioids while being treated for sarcoma continue to use opioids after treatment is completed according to findings published in CANCER, highlighting the need for safe deprescribing.
Individuals with sarcoma, a type of cancer in the bones or soft tissues, often develop damaged and fractured bones and undergo major surgical operations, and physicians may prescribe opioids for pain management. It was not clear whether doing so raises the risk for opioid misuse and overdose in these young patients.
Melissa Beauchemin, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC, CPON, of Columbia University School of Nursing, and her colleagues sought to determine the rate of new persistent opioid use among adolescents and young adults treated for sarcoma. Persistent opioid use was defined as at least two opioid prescriptions in the 12 months after treatment was completed.
The team drew from a large insurance claims database to analyse information on patients aged 10–26 years old who had not received prior opioids and who were diagnosed with sarcoma between 2008 and 2016.
Among the 938 patients in the analysis, 64% received opioid prescriptions during treatment. After completing cancer therapy, 14% of patients overall and 23% of those who used opioids during treatment continued to use opioids and met the criteria for new persistent use. Being covered by Medicaid versus commercial insurance, having bone tumours versus soft tissue tumours, and receiving concurrent lorazepam (often prescribe to treat anxiety and sleeping problems) were associated with persistent opioid use.
“Adolescents and young adults are a vulnerable population because they have benefitted less than younger and older cancer patients from recent advances. These results highlight the need to monitor young patients with sarcoma for posttreatment opioid use, given the potential negative impacts of long-term opioid use, including misuse and overdose,” said Dr Beauchemin. “Age- and developmentally appropriate strategies to effectively manage pain while minimising opioid exposure are urgently needed.”
Dr Beauchemin stressed that for young people needing opioids for effective pain management, early and safe discontinuation of opioids should be prioritised. “Further, there is a critical need for clinical practice guidelines to support clinical decision making to safely and effectively manage pain specifically for adolescents and young adults with cancer,” she said.
Source: Wiley
