Clinical outcomes and quality of life of patients with short-term and long-term opioid therapy for the treatment of non- cancer pain

Introduction: Data from the US showed that there are increasing evidences of opioid-related harms such as opioid overdose deaths in long term opioid use for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain. There is lack of data from Malaysia on opioid use particularly on its opioid related clinical outcomes. Objectives: To examine the clinical outcomes and quality of life of short-term and long-term opioid use in patients with non-cancer pain. Methods: This was a prospective clinical study where patients (age ≥18 years old) with non-cancer pain currently treated with opioids were recruited from three pain clinics in Malaysia. Patients were stratified into short-term or long-term opioid users based on opioid use ≥ 90 days. Outcome measures included pain intensity and pain interference with daily activities assessed by Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form, health-related quality of life assessed by Short-Form 36v2 and pain medication profiles assessed by Medication Quantification Scale-III (MQS-III. These measures were compared between short- and long-term opioid users. Results: Of the 61 non-cancer pain patients recruited, 49.2% (n=) were short-term and 50.8%(n=) were long-term opioid users. There were no statistically significant differences in the pain intensity, overall pain interference, health-related quality of life, and pain medication profiles between short-term and long-term opioid users in this study. Conclusion: Long-term opioid use did not significantly improve the clinical outcomes of patients with non-cancer pain which further supports the evidence of lack of benefits of opioids therapy in this condition