Use of opioid analgesics or sleeping medication and survival of cancer patients

Abstract

Purpose of the researchPain and sleep disturbance have been shown to have a profound influence on the outcomes of cancer treatment. This study sought to determine whether administering opioid analgesics or sleeping medication to cancer patients during their first admission to a hospital is associated with poor prognoses. Methods and sampleWe conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study by analyzing data obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. The study population comprised cancer patients whose first admission to a hospital for initial cancer treatment was in 2004. Key resultsWe collected data on 2302 cancer patients. To analyze the effect of opioid analgesic and sleeping medication usage on cancer patient survival, we compared the 3-year survival rates among 4 groups of patients (no use, sleeping medications–only, opioid analgesics–only, both used). The 3-year Kaplan–Meier plots for these 4 groups show that the difference was statistically significant (log rank 48.244, p < 0.001). The longevity of cancer patients was the greatest among the no–use group, followed by the sleeping medications–only group, then the opioid analgesics–only group, and finally, the group in which both sleeping medications and opioid analgesics were used. ConclusionsThe use of opioid analgesics or sleeping medication was shown to be negatively correlated with the survival rate of cancer patients.