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The ongoing opioid crisis has prompted much examination of our prescribing practices. Researchers noted the discrepancy between soaring opioid use during the past 2 decades and apparently stable prevalence of pain and decided to correlate the two more carefully.
Using data from a large, cross-sectional nationwide survey of outpatient visits, they identified almost 32,000 visits made by adult patients between 2006 and 2015 during which opioids were prescribed. International Classification of Diseases–9th revision codes associated with these visits indicated that 5% of visits were for cancer-related pain, and 66% were for conditions often associated with pain (most commonly, back pain or diabetes). An additional 2% of visits included codes for…