Pain Management and the Opioid Use Disorder Epidemic: Resources to Understand and Respond to a Public Health Emergency

In a continuing public health emergency, more than 2 million people in the United States have opioid use disorder, a life-threatening chronic brain disease caused by prolonged use of prescription opioids, heroin, or other illicit opioids. It is critical to seek solutions to this epidemic that balance society’s interest in reducing opioid-related harms with the needs of individuals suffering from pain. Our publications examine the opioid use disorder epidemic and its effects, explore tools for pain management and their implications, and propose new pain management alternatives for the future.

Framing Opioid Prescribing Guidelines for Acute Pain: Developing the Evidence

The opioid overdose epidemic combined with the need to reduce the burden of acute pain poses a public health challenge. To address how evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for prescribing opioids for acute pain might help meet this …

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Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Save Lives

The opioid crisis in the United States has come about because of excessive use of these drugs for both legal and illicit purposes and unprecedented levels of consequent opioid use disorder (OUD). More than 2 million people in the United States …

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Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic: Balancing Societal and Individual Benefits and Risks of Prescription Opioid Use

Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the …

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Pain Management and Prescription Opioid-Related Harms: Exploring the State of the Evidence: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

On September 22, 2016, the Committee on Pain Management and Regulatory Strategies to Address Prescription Opioid Abuse held a workshop titled “Pain Management and Prescription Opioid-Related Harms: Exploring the State of the Evidence.” The …

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Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief

On October 30 and 31, 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a 1.5-day workshop on Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) for Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). The workshop participants reviewed the current knowledge and …

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Integrating Responses at the Intersection of Opioid Use Disorder and Infectious Disease Epidemics: Proceedings of a Workshop

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 115 Americans die each day from an opioid overdose, which averages one death every 12.5 minutes. Between 1999 and 2016, the number of drug overdoses catapulted by 300 percent, …

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Advancing Therapeutic Development for Pain and Opioid Use Disorders Through Public-Private Partnerships: Proceedings of a Workshop

Chronic pain is one of the most prevalent, costly, and disabling health conditions in the United States. Estimates show that more than 11 percent of the American population suffer from chronic pain, yet the federal pain research investment has …

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Pain Management for People with Serious Illness in the Context of the Opioid Use Disorder Epidemic: Proceedings of a Workshop

The United States is facing an opioid use disorder epidemic with opioid overdoses killing 47,000 people in the U.S. in 2017. The past three decades have witnessed a significant increase in the prescribing of opioids for pain, based on the belief …

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