The CDC is urging doctors to reconsider whether the opioids they prescribe are really necessary. The guidelines are created to give physicians and patients the information to make more informed decisions about treatment.
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“The risks will outweigh the benefits for the vast majority of patients”, Frieden said.
Research from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration indicates that 4 out of 5 heroin users first started by recreationally using prescription pain relievers before turning to the street drug.
Deborah Dowell, a senior medical advisor at the CDC and coauthor of the guidelines, noted during the briefing that although chronic pain sufferers accounted for only five percent of the patients receiving opioids, they may take in as much as 70 percent of opioid prescriptions.
The federal guidance applies to the prescription of opioids for chronic pain – often defined as pain that lasts more than three months – but excludes opioid medications used in cancer, palliative and end-of-life care. So can other medications, like acetaminophen or ibuprofen.
In a statement, the Food and Drug Administration said it “fully supports efforts to drive effective patient and prescriber education”.
While the new CDC guidelines are nonbinding, they are considered to be important because it is the broadest measure to address the opioid painkiller problem.
“It’s the first time the federal government has clearly communicated to the medical community that widespread and routine practice of treating long-term chronic pain with opioids is inappropriate”, Dr. Andrew Kolodny, executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, told STAT.
The new CDC guidelines provide recommendations for primary care doctors treating adults for chronic pain in outpatient settings.
When prescribed, medication should be the lowest dosage needed.
LA Times reports that since the late 1990’s, more than 160,000 people in the United States have died from fatal opioid overdose. The new guidelines, he said, more accurate and appropriately direct doctors how to weigh the risks and benefits of starting and continuing opioid treatment.
USA health authorities issued guidelines Tuesday to limit prescribing opioid painkillers, in an attempt to help curb an epidemic of overdoses that kills more than 40 Americans every day.
Goettl and the CDC did says people with chronic pain, like cancer patients, may still need opiates.
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“These guidelines represent a commonsense approach to preventing opioid addiction and are crucial in our fight to end the drug abuse epidemic”, Manchin said.
