Misleading conclusions

The dramatic rise in opioid-related deaths, emergency room visits, and adverse events in the United States and Canada is of substantial concern to health care regulators, family physicians, and patients. Unfortunately, the study by Dhalla et al¹ provides little insight into the causal relationships associated with the increase in opioid-related mortality, and mistakenly concludes that the problem is somehow related to the very large variance between family physicians who prescribe opioids and those who do not.

There is strong evidence that unintentional opioid-related mortality is primarily dose-related and is more typically associated with alcohol or other substance use or abuse.²

Family physicians and chronic pain patients need to be aware of the real causes of the dramatic rise in opioid-related deaths, emergency visits, and adverse events when considering the risks and benefits of the use of opioid treatments for chronic pain.

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