[Skip to Navigation]
Sign In
Editorial
December 18, 2018

Increasing Evidence for the Limited Role of Opioids to Treat Chronic Noncancer Pain

Author Affiliations
  • 1Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
JAMA. 2018;320(23):2427-2428. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.19327

In 2017, an estimated 11 to 12 million people in the United States (4.2% of the total population) misused opioids (including heroin).1 What most physicians do not recognize is that 92% of people who misuse opioids do so by taking prescription opioids,1 and that 75% of individuals who use heroin report that they started misusing opioids through the misuse of prescription opioids.2

Add or change institution
×