RESEARCH - Opioids widely used for fibromyalgia despite absence of efficacy proof

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Opioids Widely Used for Fibromyalgia Despite Absence of Efficacy Proof

COPENHAGEN (Reuters Health) Jun 16 - More than one third of

fibromyalgia patients receiving medical care in the U.S. are

prescribed opioids despite a lack of evidence of substantial efficacy

for this disease and despite their potential for addiction and abuse,

investigators announced here at the European League Against Rheumatism

(EULAR) 2009.

Ariel Berger, MPH, with Policy Analysis Incorporated in Brookline,

Massachusetts, and associates documented patterns of opioid use using

information obtained from a large health insurance database.

The analysis included nearly 52,000 patients who had submitted at

least one insurance claim for fibromyalgia in each year of the study,

conducted between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2007.

The data showed that almost 40% of fibromyalgia patients received

opioids in any given year, predominantly short-acting agents. The mean

number of prescriptions for opioids ranged from 8.0 during 2005 to 8.3

during 2007.

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Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/704456

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