Undertreatment of pain and low use of opioids in Latin America
Journal
Pain Management
ISSN
1758-1869
1758-1877
Date Issued
2018
Author(s)
César Amescua García
Joao Batista Santos Garcia
María del Rosario Berenguel Cook
Frantz Colimon
José Alberto Flores Cantisani
Carlos Guerrero
María del Rocío Guillén Núnez
John Jairo Hernández Castro
Durval Campos Kraychete
Argelia Lara-Solares
Osvandré Lech
María Antonieta Rico Pazos
Manuel Sempértegui Gallegos
Lizandra Pattaro Marcondes
Type
Resource Types::text::journal::journal article
Abstract
<jats:p> Pain is highly prevalent among the adult Latin American population. However, many patients with moderate to severe pain do not have access to effective pain management with opioids due to limited access to healthcare, overuse of nonopioid analgesics, regulatory barriers and lack of appropriate information about opioids. There is scarce training on use of opioids among physicians and other healthcare providers, which leads to misconceptions, mainly related to a fear of prescribing opioids. Although opioids are safe and effective drugs for the treatment of moderate to severe chronic pain, the use of opioids in Latin American nations is clearly below standards compared with developed countries. </jats:p>
Subjects
analgesics
;
barriers
;
latin american
;
opioids
;
opio-ignorance
;
opiophobia
;
pain
;
undertreatment