Articles related to Pain Medicine

Beyond the strong recommendation for bisphosponates as initial medical therapy in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, the updated guidelines also suggest (not recommend) denosumab as second line therapy in women, bisphosphonates for osteoporosis in men, and romosozumab in women with very high risk of fractures. For the complete updated guideline, see Pharmacologic Treatment of Primary Osteoporosis or Low Bone Mass to Prevent Fractures in Adults: A Living Clinical Guideline From the American College of Physicians.

In a study of more than 800 rural-living men and women with knee osteoarthritis, an 18-month program of diet and exercise versus attention control yielded an average 14-pound greater weight loss in the test group – but not much difference in pain magnitude.

Chronic pain affects more than 20% of the US population. More than a dozen new medical therapies are being developed to improve quality of life and reduce the risk of addition. This report summarizes the status of 17 new pain management medications in the pipeline: 16 in phase 3 trials and one newly approved.

By 2018, gabapentin and opioids were prescribed in an overlapping manner in 7.6% of prescriptions. Prescribers are likely responding to restrictions on opioid prescribing put in place during the opioid epidemic. Increased co-prescribing was most frequently done under the direction of a pain specialist. Still, the effectiveness of the concurrent prescribing of opioids and gabapentin is uncertain and potentially dangerous because of an association with all-cause and drug-related hospitalizations.

Artri King and other products with a similar name were the subject of an FDA analysis that exposed hidden drug ingredients, including corticosteroids (diclofenac and dexamethasone). The FDA sent warning letters to Amazon, Walmart, and Latin Foods Market on October 28, 2022, for distributing various Artri and/or Ortiga unapproved and misbranded drug products. Some of these products may still be available on the market. These products have already been voluntarily recalled by Walmart and Latin Foods Market.

According to the researchers who published their findings in JAMA Network Open, the percentage of chronic pain patients using non-drug therapies without opioids remained relatively stable at 20% from 2011 to 2016, but it then increased quickly, reaching 40% in 2019. Non-opioid therapy is preferred for treating chronic pain, according to CDC guidance. However, neither the use of opioids alone nor in combination with non-drug treatments for chronic pain significantly decreased following the 2016 guidance. In fact, while about 3% to 15% of patients used opioids alone, their use increased slightly between 2016 and 2018 (from about 10% to 15% of patients).