A study of patients who went to the emergency room suffering from acute pain found those given a combination of ibuprofen and acetaminophen reported as much pain relief as those who were given opioids. The 416 patients in the study had acute pain in their shoulders, arms, hips or legs, the Los Angeles Times reports. About 20 percent of the patients had a bone fracture, the researchers wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Other patients had injuries such as a sprained ankle or dislocated shoulder. Patients were assigned to one of four groups. One group received a combination ibuprofen/acetaminophen tablet (containing the medications found in Advil and Tylenol. The other groups received a drug containing a prescription opioid, such as Percocet (a combination of oxycodone and acetaminophen), Vicodin (hydrocodone and acetaminophen) or Tylenol No. 3 (codeine and acetaminophen). Patients were asked to rate their pain when they arrived...

More than one third of adults nationwide reported prescription opioid use in 2015, with substantial numbers reporting misuse and use disorders, according to a report compiled to estimate the prevalence of, and explore the motivations for, opioid use and misuse. The data showed that pain relief was most commonly cited as the reason for the misuse of opioids and that close to half of those who misused obtained them free from a family member or friend. According to the study, based on data collected from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, close to 92 million people (38 percent) used prescription opioids in the prior year. Of these, about 11.5 million misused the drugs, and 1.9 million had an opioid use disorder. Most people (63.4 percent) who misused these medications reported doing so to relieve physical pain. About 41 percent who misused opioids obtained them for free from a...

Some patients prescribed opioids for pain relief after surgery may face a high risk for developing a long-term addiction to the medicine, a new study concludes. The study included more than 36,000 surgery patients, who were followed for six months. None had taken opioids before their surgery. The researchers found 5 to 6 percent of patients continued to fill prescriptions for opioids long after what would be considered normal surgical recovery, HealthDay reports. Rates of new chronic use did not differ between patients who had major or minor surgery, the researchers wrote in JAMA Surgery. This suggests patients continue to use these medications for something other than treating pain from surgery, they said. Risk of long-term opioid use was highest among smokers, patients who had struggled with alcohol and/or drug use in the past, those previously diagnosed with depression or anxiety, and those who had a history of chronic pain.