Prevalence of Opioid Use Disorder among Patients with Cancer-Related Pain: A Systematic Review

The opioid use disorder is an international public health problem. Over the past 20 years it has been the subject of numerous publications concerning patients treated for chronic pain other than cancer-related. Patients with cancer-related pain are also at risk of opioid use disorder. The primary objective of this literature review was to determine the prevalence of opioid use disorder in patients with cancer-related chronic pain. Its secondary objective was to identify the characteristics of these opioid users.

This is a literature review of studies published over the last twenty years, from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2020 identified by searching the three main medical databases: Pubmed, Cochrane, and Embase. A meta-analysis took account of between and within-study variability with the use of random-effects models estimated by the DerSimonian and Laird method.

The prevalence of opioid use disorder was 8% (1-20%) and of the risk of use disorder was 23.5% (19.5-27.8%) with I² values of 97.8% and 88.7%, respectively.

Further studies are now needed on the prevalence of opioid use disorder in patients treated for cancer-related chronic pain. A screening scale adapted to this patient population is urgently needed.