“The prescription overdose epidemic is doctor-driven,” Frieden said, adding it can be reversed if doctors rein in their prescriptions of the painkillers.
Addressing a growing “epidemic” of opioid overdoses and abuse of the prescribed painkillers in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday released voluntary guidelines that instruct primary care doctors to sharply deter use of the medicines for chronic pain.
“Overprescribing opioids, largely for chronic pain, is a key driver of America’s drug-overdose epidemic,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden. Sales of the prescription therapies have quadrupled since 1999, causing 165,000 fatal overdoses over the same period and now growing at more than 40 per day, according to the agency.
Primary care doctors who treat adults for chronic pain in outpatient settings account for nearly half of all opioid prescriptions, the CDC said. It defined chronic pain as lasting longer than three months, or past the typical time it takes for normal tissue healing.
The new guidelines recommend non-opioids, including acetaminophen and ibuprofen, as preferred therapy for chronic pain unless patients have active cancer or are receiving palliative or end-of-life care.
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