Long-term usage of narcotic analgesics by chronic intractable noncancer pain patients in Taiwan from 2003 to 2012.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Chronic pain is a common and important medical problem worldwide. Patients with chronic intractable noncancer pain (CINCP) are treated primarily with narcotics. We analyzed the characteristics of patients with CINCP and the pain prescriptions of Taiwan's physicians.

METHODS: We enrolled 644 patients from 66 hospitals approved by the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration to use long-term narcotics for CINCP between 2003 and 2012.

RESULTS: The majority (61.8%) of patients were 40-49-year-old men who had been treated with pethidine more often than with fentanyl in the 20-49 years age group. More than 50% of CINCP patients live in northern Taiwan, and most were treated in the department of pain; the major diagnosis (men 28.9%; women 27.7%) was neuropathy. The most frequently prescribed single analgesic was morphine (52.2%); the most frequently prescribed two-drug combination was morphine plus fentanyl (50.8%). Pethidine, however, was the most frequently prescribed analgesic in the neurology (78.0%) and plastic surgery (50.0%) departments.

CONCLUSION: To decrease malaise and addiction in patients with CINCP, Taiwan's physicians need more education on narcotic analgesics, and greater professional cooperation to develop therapeutic guidelines that will improve pain care for patients with CINCP.