Concerns have been raised after a largescale study suggested that many people in the UK who use opioid painkillers are at risk of becoming addicted.
Misuse of prescription drugs in the United States has been declared a public health emergency, with more than half a million Americans believed to have died from overdosing on the opioid fentanyl since the crisis began in the late 1990s.
Researchers in the UK say they are becoming “increasing concerned” about opioid use because of the widespread prescribing for chronic pain and an increase in opioid-related deaths.
Close to a Third Displayed Addictive Traits
The Bristol study, published in the journal Addiction, reviewed data from 148 studies involving more than 4.3 million patients aged 12 and over with chronic pain who had been treated with “opioid analgesics” for at least three months.They found that 9.3 percent of patients given opioid containing pain medication met the criteria for “dependence and opioid use dependence disorder.”
Close to a third—29.6 percent—displayed at least some “signs and symptoms” of dependence, while more than one in five people (22 percent) displayed signs of “aberrant behaviour” including seeking early refills, repeated dose escalations or frequently lost prescriptions.
“Problematic pharmaceutical opioid use appears to be common in chronic pain patients treated with opioid analgesics,” the authors found.
According to official figures, some 5.6 million adults in England were given a prescription for one or more opioid pain medicines in 2017-2018—though at the time figures were falling and had come down by half a million by 2022-2023.
Chronic pain is believed to affect up to a quarter of adults globally, with about a third estimated to be prescribed opioid analgesics.
GPs Encouraged to Explore Other Options
Lead author Kyla Thomas, professor of public health medicine at the University of Bristol, told the PA news agency: “The issue in the UK has not been as bad as the U.S., but we can see how prescription opioids caused a real problem there.“And actually, the prescribing of opioids in this country was really quite high as well and until 2018 was increasing, until measures started to be taken by NHS England encouraging GPs not to use opioids to manage people with chronic non-cancer pain.”
She said that opioids are effective for short-term, chronic pain, such as if you have had surgery or been in an accident.
But she added, “There are an enormous amount of people who are being prescribed opioids for long-term pain when opioids are not really very effective for long-term pain.
“There is a lot of work happening in the background to reduce this. But the problem hasn’t been completely sorted out. As yet, it will continue to take more effort.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said in a statement: “Clinicians should work with their patients to decide on the best course of treatment, ensuring it is appropriate and that they take account of national guidance on the treatment’s effectiveness.
“NHS England has an action plan to help local healthcare providers reduce inappropriate prescribing of high strength painkillers and other addiction-causing medicines, while we are committed to ensuring people who misuse substances get the support they need.”
The crisis in the United States was fuelled by both prescription medication and from the trade in illegal drugs flooding in over the Mexican border, with fentanyl and similar drugs cooked up in labs, often in India and China.
The 2023 Netflix drama series “Painkiller” tells the story of the birth of the opioid crisis, with an emphasis on Purdue Pharma, the company owned by Richard Sackler and his family that was the manufacturer of the addictive OxyContin.
The Sackler family has been described as the “most evil family in America” and “the worst drug dealers in history.”
