Concerns have been raised about the proportion of people who are hooked on opioid painkillers after a large new analysis suggested that many people who take the drugs could become addicted. The new study suggests that almost one in ten people who start a long-term course of pain medication which contains opioids can become dependent on the drugs and up to one in three display behaviours of addiction. Prescription drugs which contain opioids include tramadol, codeine, oxycodone, morphine, methadone and fentanyl, among others.
The new study, led by academics from the University of Bristol and published in the journal Addiction, examined data from 148 studies involving more than 4.3 million patients aged 12 and over. If you have been taking pain medication for longer than three months, it’s time to book a pain review with a pharmacist or GP.
They may stop working and you may suffer adverse effects including addiction if you take them for longer. Read more: https://t.co/ea21RjOPB4 pic.
twitter.com/LrBdBVj7bD — Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System (@MSEssex_ICS) May 21, 2024 The researchers looked at information on people with chronic pain who had been treated with “opioid analgesics” for at least three months. Overall the research team found that 9.
3% of patients given pain medication containing opioids had “dependence and opioid use dependence disorder”. Some 29.6% displayed “signs and symptoms” of dependence.
One in five people (22%) displayed signs of “a.