82 people volunteered to taper rx #opioids. In or by the 4th month, 38% dropped out. They were excluded from results. The finding that "Neither pain intensity nor pain interference increased with opioid reduction" is based ONLY on the 62% who stayed in, not all 82. (1/5)
The outpatient study was 4 months long. Oliva (BMJ 2020) found post-discontinuation deaths (OD/suicide) are highest in the 1st 3 months. I assume researchers checked to see whether anyone died, but it's not mentioned in the paper. (2/5)
Here's what the study actually found: For the 62% who successfully tapered, neither pain intensity nor interference increased w/ rx #opioid reduction. No information is available about why 38% of participants did not successfully taper or dropped out. (3/5)
It's likely 62% were able to taper because they didn't have increased pain intensity or interference and 38% were not able to taper successfully because they did.
That seems a very different conclusion than neither pain intensity nor pain interference increased w/ taper. (4/5)
That seems a very different conclusion than neither pain intensity nor pain interference increased w/ taper. (4/5)
Darnall BD, Ziadni MS, Stieg RL, Mackey IG, Kao MC, Flood P. Patient-centered prescription opioid tapering in community outpatients with chronic pain. JAMA internal medicine. 2018 May 1;178(5):707-8.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jamai…
jamanetwork.com/journals/jamai…
