A new meta-analysis of 148 studies estimates that 9.3 percent of patients who receive opioid prescriptions for chronic pain experience "dependence" or "opioid use disorder" (D&OUD). The authors, Kyla Thomas and six other researchers at Bristol Medical School in England, also calculated prevalence rates for "signs and symptoms" of D&OUD (29.6 percent), "aberrant behavior" (22 percent), and those deemed "at risk" of D&OUD (12.4 percent). They conclude that "problematic pharmaceutical opioid use appears to be common in chronic pain patients treated with opioid analgesics, with nearly one in 10 experiencing dependence and opioid use disorder, one in three showing signs and symptoms of dependence and opioid use disorder and one in five showing aberrant behaviour."
Thomas et al. think opioids are overprescribed, and they imply that their results reinforce that assessment. But these numbers are not as alarming as they might seem, and they do not support the connection that the authors misleadingly draw between medical use of opioids and escalating drug-related deaths.
