Lead: The Use of Opioids in the Management of Chronic Pain

The Use of Opioids in the Management of Chronic Pain: Synopsis of the 2022 Updated U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guideline 

Annals of Internal Medicine 

The VA, along with the Department of Defense, recently approved an updated guideline regarding the management of chronic pain with opioids (updated from the 2017 version). This includes considerations regarding initiation and continuation of therapy; dose, duration, and taper of opioids; screening, assessment, and evaluation; and risk mitigation. A new recommendation for patients receiving chronic opioid therapy is using buprenorphine in place of full agonists due to its lower risk of overdose and misuse. Other new recommendations suggest screening for additional psychiatric comorbidities that could increase risk and screening for pain catastrophizing.

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