OTC Pain Medications May Be Just As Effective As Opioids For Treating Short-Term, Severe Pain, Study Suggests.
The AP(11/7, Tanner) reports researchers found that over-the-counter pain medications may be just as effective as opioids “for treating short-term, severe pain” in EDs. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
HealthDay (11/7, Reinberg) reports the researchers “randomly assigned more than 400 patients who were suffering moderate-to-severe acute pain in an arm or leg to either ibuprofen plus acetaminophen, or to acetaminophen plus one of three narcotics: oxycodone (Oxycontin), or hydrocodone (Vicodin), or codeine.” The researchers found that two hours later, there was “no important difference” between the pain reported by those who received opioids compared to those who did not. The Los Angeles Times (11/7, Healy) reports the researchers found that the differences between the treatments “were statistically insignificant.”
The Washington Times (11/7, Kelly) reports Dr. Demetrios Kyriacou, an ED physician in Chicago, wrote in an accompanying editorial that preventing people from becoming addicted to opioids is key to ending the opioid crisis.
TIME (11/7, Park) also covered the story.
