Use of opioids by patients in oncology palliative care

Abstract

Introduction: Pain is the most common symptom in oncology, affecting more than 80% of patients, with opioids being the drugs of choice for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, especially in cancer.Objective: To analyze the patterns of opioid consumption among a group of cancer patients presenting to a tertiary palliative care unit.Methods: Cross-sectional study of analysis of medical records and prescriptions of patients at the Oncological PCU of a public hospital in Brasília (DF), Brazil, between September 2021 and March 2022. Fisher’s exact test was used, followed by Bonferroni’s post hoc test for categorical variables, and Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient for continuous variables.Results: Study participants were on average 62 years old (SD ± 14.8), 52% were female and had a diagnosis of malignant neoplasms of the digestive system (40.9%), the genital system (27.6%), and others malignant neoplasms (31.5%). Participants were hospitalized for an average of 12.5 days (SD ± 18.7), most of them were using an opioid, with morphine being the most prevalent (81.9%), and drugs were delivered mostly through intravenous route (45.7%). There was a change in the routes of drug administration in 39.4% of the cases. Genital system neoplasms affected women the most.Conclusion: In regard to the use of opioids and pain control data collected at the studied OPCU were consistent with the recommended practices of PC, such as dose rotation and titration. The patients’ profile partially matches what is expected from the epidemiology of cancer in Brazil.