Abstract
The misuse of and dependency on prescription opioids represents a significant crisis at the national level, impacting not only the health of the public but also the societal and economic well-being. There is a critical need for strategies to reduce the dosage of prescribed opioids to limit opioid-associated adverse effects and lower the risk of addiction development in patients experiencing chronic pain. Opioid-sparing medications, when co-administered with opioids, enable a reduced opioid dose without loss of efficacy.This suggests the potential for using opioid adjunct drugs in opioid tapering, whereby opioid doses are lowered incrementally in a systematic manner to improve a patient’s safety profile or quality of life. The objective of this report is two-fold: 1) to illustrate the potential for adjunct drugs in opioid tapering, and 2) to describe the steps needed to be taken to develop a framework for the use of adjunct drugs in opioid tapering. This can provide the impetus for further investigation into opioid tapering and the development of improved clinical care. The proposed project implements knowledge synthesis methods to develop the framework for a new paradigm of opioid drug tapering that incorporates opioid dosage reductions with adjunct drugs. Framework development is organized into three major phases: 1) Adjunct drug characterization, 2) Assessment of the opioid-sparing effect, and 3) Usability of data for clinicians. The knowledge gained from this project can provide a foundation for improved analgesia protocols for opioids and adjunctive drug therapy.
Description
Copyright 2024 Veronin and Reinert. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed.For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php)
Publisher
Dove Medical Press
Date of publication
10-2024
Language
english
Persistent identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4825
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Veronin, Michael and Reinert, Justin P., "A Framework for a New Paradigm of Opioid Drug Tapering Using Adjunct Drugs" (2024). Pharmacy Faculty Publications and Presentations. Paper 33.
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4825