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Opioids More Dangerous than other Analgesics for Elderly

Sue Pondrom  |  Issue: April 2011  |  

Dr. Solomon said the take-home message of the two articles is “that opioids should not be considered safer alternatives to nsNSAIDs and coxibs. And, all opioids are not alike. I believe this is one of the first papers to examine the range of adverse events, but in the next year, we’ll see a lot more information about the comparative safety of opioids across different safety endpoints.”

Sue Pondrom is a medical journalist based in San Diego.

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References

  1. Solomon DH, Rassen JA, Glynn RJ, Lee J, Levin R, Schneeweiss S. The comparative safety of analgesics in older adults with arthritis. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170:1968-1978.
  2. Solomon DH, Rassen JA, Glynn RJ, et al. The comparative safety of opioids for nonmalignant pain in older adults. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170:1979-1986.
  3. Graf J. Analgesic use in the elderly: The “pain” and simple truth: Comment on “The comparative safety of analgesics in older adults with arthritis, and the safety of opioid analgesics in the elderly.” Arch Intern Med. 2010;170:1976-1978.
  4. Becker WC, O’Connor PG. The safety of opioid analgesics in the elderly. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170:1986-1988.

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