Long-term opioid therapy may increase the risk of adverse outcomes in polyneuropathy patients

A team of researchers from the Mayo Clinic (MN, USA) has published a study that looked to investigate the association between long-term opioid therapy with functional status, adverse outcomes and mortality among patients with polyneuropathy, a painful condition in which peripheral nerves are either diseased or damaged. The findings were published in JAMA Neurology and indicate that long-term opioid therapy in this population increases the risk of adverse outcomes without benefiting functional status. A retrospective population-based cohort study of prescriptions given to patients with polyneuropathy between 2006 and 2010 was performed, with follow-up taking place up to November 2016. The...