First Analgesic Prescriptions for Patients with Newly Diagnosed Diabetic Neuropathy

Clinical practice guidelines are clear about which medications are recommended or acceptable for patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy; notably, opioids are not among those choices. In this retrospective cohort study, researchers used data from a U.S. healthcare system to explore trends in prescription of these medications to 3500 adults with newly diagnosed diabetic neuropathy from 2014 to 2018.

A total of 1400 patients received new pain medications within 1 year after diagnosis. The frequency of receiving any pain medication declined from 46% in 2014 to 35% in 2018. Use of opioids declined slightly, from about 48% of patients who received prescriptions in 2014 to 40% in 2018, but the changes were not significant after adjustment for…