news
Opioids fail back
pain challenge
Research finds the medicines are little
help with lumbar discomfort.
O
pioid painkillers, even at high doses, provide minimal
benefit for people with low back pain, new research
has suggested.
The findings of the systematic review, by the institute and the
University of Sydney, are published in the journal JAMA Internal
Medicine. Co-author and pharmacist Andrew McLachlan said low
back pain is a common health problem and the leading cause of
disability in the world.
In Australia, 40 per cent of patients who see a GP for low back
pain are prescribed an opioid painkiller, he said.
“We studied whether these medicines made a difference to pain
and disability,” McLachlan said of patient presenting with mechanical
back pain, the type with no identifiable cause. “To our surprise, the
findings were that these drugs were of marginal benefit, at most
modest relief of pain for people with lower back pain.”
As well as concluding that the drugs provide little clinical
benefit, the study also found that half of trial participants withdrew
because of adverse effects from the medicine or lack of effect.
Fellow author professor Chris Maher from The George Institute
said, “People have the mistaken belief that opioids are strong
painkillers. When you look closely at the evidence from the low
back pain trials, a completely different picture emerges.”
This movement away from opioids comes at a time of increased
awareness of their danger, such as the publicity surrounding
musician Prince’s death in April 2016 from an accidental overdose.
“For people who can tolerate the medicine, taking an opioid
analgesic such as oxycodone will reduce pain, but the effect
is likely to be small,” Maher said. “This result reinforces the
recent US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
recommendation that if opioids are used, they should be
combined with non-drug options such as physiotherapy or
non-opioid painkillers, as appropriate.” ■
AAP
Super for contractors
There’s a lot to think about when contracting. But setting up your super can be simple
and could have lots of benefits.
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Issued by H.E.S.T. Australia Limited ABN 66 006 818 695 AFSL No. 235249, Trustee of Health Employees Superannuation Trust Australia (HESTA) ABN 64 971 749 321. This information is of a general nature. It does not
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