Prescription of opioids and anticonvulsants in adults with chronic pain in Brazil between 2000-2022

• Grant number: 24/03499-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Epidemiology
• Principal Investigator: Crystian Bitencourt Soares de Oliveira
• Grantee: Aissa Sanches Rufino
• Host Institution: Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação. Universidade do Oeste Paulista (UNOESTE). Presidente Prudente , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic pain is pain that persists or recurs for more than three months, classified as nociceptive, neuropathic and mixed. In Brazil, the prevalence ranged from 23.02% to 76.17% with a national average of 45.59%, affecting more females, explicitly impacting health systems and patients' quality of life. The medications currently prescribed to treat chronic pain are opioids and anticonvulsants, and it is important to recognize their long-term effects and potentially serious adverse effects, such as tolerance, withdrawal, clinical dependence, drowsiness, constipation, endocrine and respiratory depression and even death. However, recent evidence shows that these medications have limited effectiveness for treating pain.Justification: In the current situation, the estimates are outdated and do not address the temporal trends of these two medications together. Furthermore, these studies do not standardize issues related to chronic pain due to heterogenic patient samples.Objective: To investigate the use of opioids and anticonvulsants in adults with chronic pain in Brazil between the years 2000 and 2022.Methods: Retrospective study, in which the STROBE and RECORD checklists will be used, with the age range being adults, that is, between 18 and 59 years old and ICD-10 R 52, specifically ICD-10 R 52.1 for chronic pain intractable, ICD-10 R 52.2 for other chronic pain and ICD-10 R52.9 for unspecified pain. The medications analyzed are opioids and anticonvulsants available in the SUS and the data will be taken from the SIH/SUS present in the DATASUS database. To standardize, considering population changes, the rates of opioid and anticonvulsant prescriptions per 1000 people will be calculated, considering the population in the denominator. Linear trend graphs will be used to describe prescriptions over time.