Long-Term Opioid Use Following Radiation or Chemoradiation for Head and Neck Cancer

In this cohort study, 70.0% and 47.3% of patients with head and neck cancer continued taking opioids at 3 and 6 months following treatment, respectively. Factors associated with opioid use at 3 months included prior opioid use, former smoking status, and palliative care referral. These findings suggest that targeted opioid stewardship programs that consider both analgesia and long-term dependency risk are merited.

Corresponding Author: Sung Jun Ma, MD, Department of Radiation Oncology, The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, 460 W 10th Ave, Columbus, OH 43210 (sungjun.ma@osumc.edu).

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