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Clinicians sometimes prescribe opioids for painful polyneuropathy, particularly when nonopioid agents are ineffective. In this retrospective, population-based study, Mayo Clinic researchers examined opioid use among nearly 2900 patients with polyneuropathy in Olmstead County, Minnesota, between 2006 and 2010; polyneuropathy was considered to be diabetic or idiopathic in most cases.
Among patients with polyneuropathy, 50% received only short-term opioids (<90 days), and 19% received long-term opioids (≥90 consecutive days). Prevalence of long-term opioid use was significantly higher among polyneuropathy patients than among population-based age- and sex-matched controls (19% vs. 5%). Most opioid users also used other analgesics commonly prescr…